Back in February, Turkish police posing as buyers rescued a 7-year-old Yazidi girl — one of the many Yazidi victims the Islamic State (IS) abducted and enslaved — after her captives advertised her for sale on what is known as the “deep web” of criminal activities. Less than half a year on, the three Iraqi suspects nabbed in the operation in Ankara have all walked free.
That IS militants could easily find safe harbor in Turkey is not a secret, but the fact that suspects supposed to stand trial for grave crimes such as abduction, enslavement and maltreatment could walk free under judicial control is not merely a legal scandal but a sign that the suspects are shown leniency and favor. Moreover, the trials of IS suspects in Turkey show the penal code’s Article 221 on “effective remorse” — designed to encourage confessions about terrorist groups in return for sentence reductions — is becoming a means for suspects to evade due punishment.
The police raid in which the Yazidi girl was rescued led to the detention of Sabah Ali Hussein Oruc, who, according to the initial official account of the raid, was a ranking IS member in Mosul and had brought the girl along from Iraq, as well as two other Iraqis identified as Anas V. and Nasser H.R. Turkish journalist Hale Gonultas, who closely follows the fate of IS captives, detailed last week how Anas and Nasser were released under judicial control within several days after being questioned by prosecutors, while Sabah was put behind bars pending trial. The March 8 indictment charged all three suspects with membership in and leadership of a terrorist group.
According to the indictment, Sabah was subordinate to an IS emir named Abu Abdullah, served as a guard at IS positions in Iraq, took part in armed clashes and was on the IS payroll. He claims it was his brother who bought the Yazidi girl before being killed in Iraq. Sabah allegedly made it to Turkey with a fake passport in 2017 after a six-month stint behind bars in Iraq. By that time, he claims, he had already sent the Yazidi girl to Turkey along with his wife and children.
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