The wife of an alleged ringleader of a Turkish Al Qaeda cell believed to have plotted last yearâs deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul told a court that her husband was a murderer and she wanted a divorce, newspapers reported on Thursday.
| "I put up with his boozing and his skirt-chasing, but this is too much!" |
Cemile Akdas, the wife of Habib Akdas, is charged with membership in an illegal organisation and aiding and abetting terrorists. Her husband is believed to have fled abroad and has not been formally charged. Ms Akdas, who was detained shortly after the November attacks, told a court on Wednesday that she travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan with her husband in 2001, but denied any intentional involvement in the attacks, newspapers said. âWhat my husband did was a very bad mistake,â the Hurriyet newspaper quoted her as saying. Asked by the court, if his actions only amounted to a mistake, she said: âThis is being a murderer.â
| I'd call that a mistake... |
âI submitted a petition to divorce my husband. I want to be releasedâ from custody, she was quoted as saying. Other newspapers carried similar reports. Prosecutors claim Ms Akdas and Mediha Yildirim, married to another top suspect in a religious ceremony that is not recognised in secular Turkey, helped to pass on bomb-making material used in the attacks and knew in advance that their husbands planned to flee. Both women have denied the charges. The court started hearing testimony on Wednesday in the trial of 69 suspects charged with involvement in the bombings. |