One held over murder of Syrian activist in Istanbul

By Huseyin Bagis

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish police detained a suspect on Saturday in relation with the fatal stabbings of a Syrian anti-Assad activist and her journalist daughter in Istanbul.

The bodies of Orouba Barakat, 60, and her 22-year-old daughter Hala Barakat were found in their apartment in Uskudar, a neighborhood on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, on Sept. 21.

The Syrian suspect, identified only by the initials A.B., was detained in the northwestern province of Bursa after being spotted in security footage near the apartment building, a police source said.

The suspect, who was identified as a relative of the victims, will be transferred to Istanbul police for further questioning.

The alarm was raised after Hala Barakat did not go to work for two days and colleagues contacted police.

In a Facebook post, Orouba Barakat’s sister Shaza said they had been "assassinated" by the "hand of injustice and tyranny" -- a reference to Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The Syrian Revolution Network, an opposition media group, said Orouba Barakat had been a human rights activist who had opposed the regime of Hafez al-Assad and then that of his son Bashar since the 1980s.

The deaths are not the first tragedy to hit the family in recent years.

In February 2015, Deah Barakat, a cousin based in the U.S., was shot dead alongside with his wife and her sister in North Carolina.

Shaza Barakat’s son was killed by the regime in Syria.