A judge ousted a key Syrian al-Qaida suspect from his courtroom Monday for contempt of court after he refused to stand up on the opening day of his trial for allegedly masterminding deadly bombings in Turkey. Loai Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa is on trial along with 72 other suspected al-Qaida militants for alleged involvement in a series of suicide bombings that killed 58 people in Istanbul in 2003. Judge Zafer Baskurt asked al-Saqa several times to stand up in court, and then ordered him thrown out when he refused. 'My beliefs prevent me from standing in front of people like you,' al-Saqa told the judge. As soldiers escorted him out, al-Saqa shouted: 'I fought a jihad, I killed Americans, I will not stand up before you!' Baskurt also ordered a spectator detained for shouting in support of al-Saqa.Earlier, the judge asked lawyer Osman Karahan - who recently has been charged with aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for allegedly giving money to one of his clients - to leave the courtroom, saying he was barred from the case for one year. Karahan, who represents 15 of the 72 suspects including al-Saqa, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The court then proceeded with the trial, formally joining al-Saqa's case with the case of the 72 other suspects.
Prosecutors claimed that Osama bin Laden personally ordered al-Saqa, 32, to carry out terror attacks in this predominantly Muslim but pro-Western country.
Al-Saqa is accused of serving as a point man between al-Qaida and homegrown militants behind the November 2003 bombings, which destroyed a British bank, the British Consulate and two synagogues, an indictment said. It said al-Saqa gave the Turkish militants about $170,000. Prosecutors have demanded life in prison for al-Saqa, calling him 'a high-level al-Qaida official with a special mission.'
Al-Saqa and his alleged Syrian accomplice, Hamid Obysi, were captured in Turkey in August after an alleged failed plot to attack Israeli cruise ships. Obysi was also standing trial Monday. Al-Saqa reportedly told interrogators the plot against one cruise ship was financed by Taliban chief