3 get aggravated life terms over 2016 Istanbul bombing

By Murat Paksoy, Muhammed Enes Can and Murat Kaya

ISTANBUL (AA) - A Turkish court awarded aggravated life sentences and an additional 329 years in prison to three people in connection with the 2016 bombing in Istanbul that left 12 people dead, a judicial source said.

The verdict was issued by the 14th High Criminal Court, where a total of 26 suspects -- including Syrian and Iraqi nationals -- appeared.

The defendants, including Hasan al-Mayouf, Fawzi Mohamed Ali and Halil Dervis, got jail terms on charges of violating constitution and possessing illegal substance.

Abdulrahman Faiz Rasit, another defendant, was given six years and three months in jail for being a member of a terrorist organization, but he was released considering the time he served in jail.

According to the indictment, Ali brought the bomb to Istanbul in a vehicle which belonged to him. Then he gave the bomb to fugitive suspect Rasheed Alabdallah Algaagan, who later handed it to the suicide bomber Nabil Fadli.

On Jan. 12, 2016, Fadli blew himself up, killing 12 people -- mostly German tourists -- and injuring 16 others in Istanbul's Sultanahmet district in an attack blamed on Daesh.

The Sultanahmet district, located on the European side of Istanbul, is home to the city’s most popular tourist sites and contains hundreds of hotels and restaurants.