Loai al-Saqa

Loai Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa is a Syrian member of al-Qaeda, convicted of masterminding and financing the 2003 Istanbul bombings. In February 2007, he was sentenced to 67 life sentences in Turkey. He was suspected in several other terrorist bombings. His first conviction was overturned on appeal.

He was arrested in August 2005, while allegedly planning a bomb attack against an Israeli cruise ship. He was accused of supplying Turkish militants $170,000 to perform the bombing. Unlike some of the six Turkish men also given life sentences for the attacks, al-Saqa maintained his innocence throughout the trial.

During his trial, al-Saqa was questioned by prosecutor Huseyin Canan about the beheading of British engineer Kenneth Bigley in Iraq.

Early life Sakka is the son of a wealthy factory owner in Aleppo, Syria. Karakan said that Sakka had willingly acknowledged his jihadist activities, and remained committed to jihadism—but was nevertheless refusing to sign a confession.

The Washington Post reported that he drank alcohol, and hung out with unmarried women, in order to mask the fact that he was a fundamentalist. Today's Zaman reported Sakka had warned Turkish troops in Afghanistan that they could be faced with “disaster”. “Turkish [military] vehicles carry CIA agents in Afghanistan. The public should understand this fact. I’d like to warn [Turkish] soldiers about the disaster they could be faced with if they continue their activities. The Turkish military has been implicated in activities for which resister [Islam] combatants will never forgive them. I am calling the Turkish public as a friend. Save your children from Afghanistan.”

On 21 March 2012, the judge in Sakka's case barred him from the courtroom, because he was wearing an orange jumpsuit, similar to those made infamous for being issued to Guantanamo captives.