Ahlam Albashir, the main perpetrator of a 2022 terrorist attack in Istanbul, faces seven instances of aggravated life imprisonment and an additional prison term of up to 3,009 years. The prosecutor in the case asked the Istanbul court trying the PKK-linked terrorist to sentence her for the deaths of six people and the injuries of 99 others.
Albashir is among 36 defendants on trial, with 15 in custody, while others were released earlier pending trial.
She was caught on security camera footage as she left the explosive device on Istanbul’s busy Istiklal Street, shortly before a blast ripped through the street filled with locals and tourists. The prosecutor asked for separate sentences for Albashir on charges of membership in a terrorist group, attacking the country’s unity, the deliberate killing of a child and bombing as well as illicit possession of dangerous materials. The prosecutor’s indictment says the bomb attack was ordered and orchestrated by senior leaders of the PKK, including Cemil Bayık, Sabri Ok and Ferhat Abdi Şahin, and asked for a separate trial involving those people. The indictment also called for the arrest of seven defendants who were released early pending trial and asked for a “Red Notice,” or international arrest warrant for a fugitive defendant.
Albashir, who was captured shortly after the terrorist attack, infiltrated into Türkiye from Syria where the PKK’s Syrian wing YPG is active. She was accommodated at a “safe house” of the terrorist group in Istanbul before running a reconnaissance mission before the attack.
The defendant said she regretted her actions and claimed that she was unaware that a bag she was asked to carry contained explosives. “They (other PKK-linked suspects) asked me to take photos on the street,” she said.
She also claimed some other defendants in the trial were innocent and they were “linked” to her just because she stayed in their homes.
“They have nothing to do with terrorism. You can punish me. I consent to any sentence you will give,” she told the court. “I am an orphan and did not want anybody to be left orphaned. I can’t sleep at night because people died that day,” she said.
In retort, the prosecutor said she should be "punished with the curse of children she left orphaned" and any person with a conscience would not sleep anyway after carrying out such an attack.
The hearing was adjourned to April 15 for additional time for defendants to prepare their defense statements.
