Thursday, October 9, 2025
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

Turkey overturned conviction of ISIS deputy emir who was wanted by Spain

January 27, 2022
A A
Turkish prosecutor released ISIS suspect caught in stolen car with fake license plate, signal jammer
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

 

Turkey’s top appeals court threw out the conviction of an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant who was wanted by Spain, citing a lack of documentation during his trial at the court of first instance.

The suspect, whose name was withheld by the court, was convicted in a high criminal court and sentenced to prison on February 7, 2020. Spain wanted the person on terrorism charges and informed Turkey of his role as deputy to an ISIS emir. Turkish police also submitted documentation that amounted to criminal evidence against the suspect.

The conviction was upheld by a regional appeals court. However, Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals (Yargıtay) on October 5, 2021 overturned the conviction and asked Turkish authorities to seek more information from Spain under the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.

The 1959 convention entered into force in 1963 and has thus far been ratified by 50 states including three non-European nations. The agreement was upgraded in 1978 with the Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and later with the Second Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters in 2001.

The appeals court ruling was rendered by the 3rd Chamber, which oversees the terrorism convictions and is staffed by judges loyal to the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The chamber is led by Judge Muhsin Şentürk, who is known to be close to the government and supportive of convictions when it comes to reviewing cases of critics, opponents and dissidents who were convicted on false charges of terrorism in Turkey.

 

Supreme Court of Appeals ruling that threw out the conviction of the ISIS suspect: 

 

This ISIS case represents yet another example of how the bulk of successful ISIS convictions, already rare in the lower courts, have been thrown out by senior judges who appear to follow the lenient guidelines of the Erdoğan government when it comes to cracking down on jihadist groups.

The political pressure on judges and prosecutors who were asked to go easy on jihadists began in 2014, when the Erdoğan government started removing judges, prosecutors and police chiefs who were investigating radical groups in Turkey. The dismissed officials were accused of links to the Gülen movement, led by Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, who has been an outspoken critic of the Erdoğan regime due to pervasive corruption and Turkey’s aiding and abetting of jihadist groups in Syria and Libya.

More than 130,000 civil servants have been dismissed by the government with no effective judicial or administrative investigation, 4,560 of whom were judges and prosecutors and were replaced by pro-Erdoğan, Islamist and neo-nationalist staff. As a result of the massive purge, the Turkish judiciary and law enforcement authorities have become tools in the hands of the Islamist government of President Erdoğan and his allies.

 

 

Thousands of militants, both Turkish and foreign, have used Turkish territory to cross into Syria with the help of smugglers in order to fight alongside ISIS groups there. Turkish intelligence agency MIT (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı) has facilitated their travel, with Kilis, a border province in Turkey’s Southeast, one of the main crossing points into ISIS-held territory. Human smugglers were known to have been active in the border area, although Turkish authorities often overlooked their trips in and out of Syria.

There have been some cases, however, in which ISIS suspects were detained and indicted on terrorism charges. But very few resulted in convictions in the lower courts. The decision of Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals to overturn rare cases of conviction of suspects on ISIS terror charges sets an important precedent in Turkey’s criminal justice system. The ruling will effectively render to zero the chances of convicting an ISIS member on terrorism charges in the lower courts.

Turkish officials do not disclose the number of successful convictions in ISIS cases and decline to respond to parliamentary questions asking for such information. Instead, they often float figures on the number of detentions and arrests, which in many cases result in release and acquittal.

Erdoğan announced on October 10, 2019 that there were around 5,500 ISIS terrorists in Turkish prisons, of which half were foreign nationals. Yet, on October 25, 2019 Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül stated at a press conference that there were 1,163 ISIS arrestees and convicts in prison.

Responding to a parliamentary question on July 21, 2020, Gül said 1,195 ISIS members were in prisons either as convicts or suspects in pretrial detention. Of these, 791 were foreign nationals, he added. He declined to say how many had actually been convicted.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Turkish court released ISIS woman caught with a suicide vest and explosives

Next Post

Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly criticizes Turkey on enforced disappearances

Abdullah Bozkurt

Abdullah Bozkurt

[email protected]

Next Post
PACE to hold urgent debate on Turkey over worsening outlook for opposition

Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly criticizes Turkey on enforced disappearances

Germany struggles with the prosecution of never-ending Turkish espionage cases

Germany struggles with the prosecution of never-ending Turkish espionage cases

October 9, 2025
Turkey shifts to US partnership for second nuclear plant once promised to Russia

Turkey shifts to US partnership for second nuclear plant once promised to Russia

October 8, 2025
Murder raises new questions about Turkey’s fight against ISIS

Murder raises new questions about Turkey’s fight against ISIS

October 7, 2025
Turkey’s release of ISIS detainees fuels European terrorism threat, Dutch court case shows

Turkey’s release of ISIS detainees fuels European terrorism threat, Dutch court case shows

October 6, 2025
Erdogan pushes for northern Cyprus election win amid allegations of interference and mafia links

Erdogan pushes for northern Cyprus election win amid allegations of interference and mafia links

October 3, 2025
Erdoğan government believed Muslim Brotherhood would make a huge comeback in Egypt in few years

Turkey’s top court quashes terrorism conviction of 2 Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members

October 2, 2025
Turkey emerges as key haven for Iranian who launched $88M Bittrex crypto case

Turkey emerges as key haven for Iranian who launched $88M Bittrex crypto case

October 1, 2025
Turkish military journal claims NATO is using Ankara without giving it a voice

Turkish military journal claims NATO is using Ankara without giving it a voice

September 30, 2025
$100 billion OmegaPro scandal highlights Turkey’s role as a haven for global fraudsters

$100 billion OmegaPro scandal highlights Turkey’s role as a haven for global fraudsters

September 29, 2025
Turkey shifts away from Russia with new gas deals, hoping to win Trump’s favor

Turkey shifts away from Russia with new gas deals, hoping to win Trump’s favor

September 26, 2025

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor is a news web site and tracking site that is run by the Stockholm-based Nordic Research and Monitoring Network. It covers religious, ideological and ethnic extremist movements and radical groups, with a special focus on Turkey.

Tags

al-Qaeda Andrei Karlov Cyprus Diyanet Egypt Erdogan espionage Germany Greece Gülen Movement Hakan Fidan Hamas Hulusi Akar Ibrahim Kalın IHH Iran IRGC Quds Force ISIL ISIS Isis al-qaida Israel Libya Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı MIT Muslim Brotherhood NATO President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Profiling Qatar Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Russia SADAT spying Spying Activities Suleyman Soylu Sweden Syria Torture Turkey Turkish Intelligence Turkish Intelligence Agency Turkish intelligence agency MIT Ukraine United States

Recent News

Germany struggles with the prosecution of never-ending Turkish espionage cases

Germany struggles with the prosecution of never-ending Turkish espionage cases

October 9, 2025
Turkey shifts to US partnership for second nuclear plant once promised to Russia

Turkey shifts to US partnership for second nuclear plant once promised to Russia

October 8, 2025
Murder raises new questions about Turkey’s fight against ISIS

Murder raises new questions about Turkey’s fight against ISIS

October 7, 2025

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.