Turkish national charged with attempting to launder money for Hamas



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Turkish national arrested
A month ago at the airport Ben Gurion was indicted by the Military Advocate General on Sunday at the Samaria Military Court for several security offenses.

The defendant, Ebru Ozkan, aged 27, has been charged with unlawful association, crime against the public order of Hamas and the offense of transferring enemy funds to the area.

According to the indictment, in 2016, the accused decided to travel to Israel as part of an organized tour. During his stay at the airport of Istanbul, a guide named Mohammed Samer approached him and asked him to take 15 bottles of perfume that he had with him in Israel, in order to whiten money for Hamas.

  Ebru Ozkan

Ebru Ozkan

The Military Advocate asserts that the defendant granted the request and took the perfume to his hotel room, where an unidentified man took him took a perfume. day later.

"In doing so, the accused rendered a service to the Hamas organization which is in itself an illegal association," the indictment said.

Between March 2016 and his arrest in June 2018, the accused was working as a secretary at a research center in Turkey, along with several Hamas activists.

Ozkan informed activists of his intentions to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, according to the indictment.

One of the center's employees, Abd al-Latif-Sada, asked Ozkan to transfer a bond to his friend who lives in the area, and the defendant, according to the military attorney general, it's consistent with his request too.

Two days later, Abd al-Latif-Sada gave the accused a leather wallet and a phone charger, which he told him to put in his luggage. He also asked her to say nothing about the device to the Israeli security guards if it was asked upon her arrival, other than the fact that it had been bought in Turkey.

Before his flight, Ozkan received $ 500 and details from a friend who was waiting for him in Israel. Abd al-Latif-Sada asked him to give his friend the money with the words: "The chocolate of your friend, to whom you gave the money."

At this stage, according to the indictment, it was clear to the accused that the illegal activity, detrimental to the security of the area, was taking place.

Ebru Ozkan arrives in court (צילום: שמיר אלבז)

After arriving in Israel, Ozkan contacts Abd al-Latif-Sada's friend. Unable to arrange a meeting, she returned to Turkey with the aircraft.

In June 2016, the Ozkan research center was moved to another location but remained in contact with Abd al-Latif-Sada.

In August of the same year, Abd al-Latif-Sada left the center. At the end of 2017, he called and asked him to check if his friend, a Hamas militant, was attending a conference in Turkey, telling him that he would like to meet him. At this point, Ozkan understood that Abd al-Latif-Sada belongs himself to the Hamas terrorist organization.

One month before his arrest, the accused had been contacted by Abd al-Latif-Sada, who had asked him to meet him. During the meeting, he again asked him to transfer money to his friend during his visit to Israel.

Ozkan agreed but insisted that she transfer money through a bank, a decision that, according to al-Latif-Sada, could not work.

According to the indictment, the defendant finally received $ 500 for a transfer and $ 100 more for her services. The money was finally brought into the country by his sister.

The accused was arrested by police shortly before leaving Israel for Istanbul.

In response to the prosecution, his attorney Omara Khamaisi told Reuters outside the court: "Come on, really? I think in this case, the decision will be finally brave … to release her, I hope "

Khamaisi stated that Ozkan had been denied access to a lawyer for most of his detention and had not been interrogated in Turkish, which resulted in distortions in the way his answers to questions were recorded.

Alif Ozkan, Ebru's older sister, claims that the accused was jailed without any concrete evidence or documents proving her guilt.

"We were unable to contact our sister, we could not even call her, even her lawyer was not able to talk to her despite the fact that he was in She was imprisoned illegally, this is a violation of her human rights, it is arbitrary detention, Israel has done so for political reasons, "she said.

Asked about the case of Ozkan on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called it "our sister" and accused Israel of "taking dissuasive action against our citizens who are return to Jerusalem "

We will counter this, our relations will normalize when Israel puts an end to its inhuman policies, "he said without giving further details.

Israeli-Turkish relations have recently been in decline and, in May 2018, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador Eitan Na & eh and ordered him to leave.

One day before the incident, Turkey announced that she remembers her ambassadors from Israel and the United States, and said three days of morning in the country after the death of 61 Palestinians during
demonstrations in the Gaza Strip.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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