ISIS member who allegedly ordered burning of soldiers wants release in exchange for testimony

A blurred still image from the ISIS video

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An ISIS member who allegedly ordered the burning of two soldiers in 2016, rejected the allegations and demanded his release in exchange for providing further information about the incident, The Independent Turkish reported.

In the hearing that took place in July, Jamal Abdurrahman Alwi refused that he was the ISIS "qadi" (a magistrate or judge of a sharia court) codenamed "Ebu Abdullah al-Shami," according to the report.

"I can't say what I know about the killing of the soldiers. I can only say it face-to-face," he said, claiming that the "qadi" currently resides in the Al-Rai (Çobanbey) town in Aleppo, northern Syria, which is controlled by Türkiye and its allied groups.

He had learned the whereabouts of the "qadi" from another ISIS member in prison, he claimed. "If I'm released, I'll find this person dead or alive. I am against DAESH [ISIS]. My three sons were killed because of DAESH. I'm innocent. I have a family to take care of. I demand my release," he said.

The court ruled for the continuation of the suspect's arrest.

Alwi was arrested last year, after journalist İsmail Saymaz reported that he was free and running a bird shop in the southeastern city of Antep.

ISIS in December 2016 released the footage of the burning of the two soldiers in Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) uniforms, who were later identified as Fethi Şahin (26) and Sefer Taş (23).

The TSK informed Taş's family in October 2017 that their son "martyred" while Şahin has still not been declared dead. (RT/VK)