Abbas Aly given bail, court to give judgment in October

A Turkish court has granted unconditional bail to a man charged with the murder of a British librarian, two months before it hands down judgment and five years after the defendant was apprehended in Malta and extradited for the crime.

Mohammed Abdel Monem Abbas Aly was granted unconditional bail by a Turkish court on Thursday and the family of Edgar Fernandes are extremely concerned that he might try to escape again.

"The next sitting is on October 8, when the court is expected to deliver its verdict. He is widely expected to be convicted but we're now afraid he might not attend the hearing on October 8 because he would have left the country. Abbas Aly has a track record of fleeing the country..." Fernandes's sister Genny said.

Ms Fernandes was referring to the time right after the killing when Abbas Aly was arrested in Malta at Interpol's request after he went on the run in Turkey just as Edgar Fernandes, 37, vanished on the second night of a week's holiday in Istanbul on April 9, 1998.

Relatives found Fernandes' body in a morgue following an intensive three-week search. It had been lying there since it was washed up from the Bosphorus two days after Fernandes went missing.

An autopsy showed that Fernandes, a librarian, died as a result of a severe blow to the head by a blunt object, possibly a bat or a baton.

After preliminary investigations in Turkey, Abbas Aly, 30, was put on Interpol's wanted list and was detained in Malta after a credit card sting set up by local police on a tip by their British counterparts.

He was held without bail on a passport forgery charge and a credit card fraud charge and was convicted of both and jailed for two years for the forgery and three years for the fraud.

He appealed from the judgment but let the appeal lapse.

Meanwhile, Turkey sent in a formal request for his extradition days before he was due to be deported to Egypt and the local authorities decided to extradite him on September 7, 2001, after receiving an assurance that Turkey would not impose the death penalty if Abbas Aly was convicted of the murder.

The Extradition Act lays down that a request can be rejected if made by a country which, like Turkey, has the death penalty on its statute books.

Ms Fernandes yesterday said the family was gutted to learn the news that Abbas Aly was free after just one and a half years in custody in Turkey.

"The prosecutor summarised the salient points and stated there was evidence that Abbas Aly was involved in the murder. He is recommending a conviction but has also announced that the defendant should be conditionally discharged, even if convicted.

"The only consolation for us is that the Maltese police did a great job in securing a conviction in relation to the credit card fraud and the passport forgery. He has now therefore served a longer time in prison for those crimes than in Turkey," Ms Fernandes said.

"We are very grateful to Commissioner (John) Rizzo and Inspector (Noel) Cutajar and the whole team. Without their support and assistance, he would have been a free man a long time ago.

"My family is eternally grateful to the Maltese police for providing a great service and for playing their part in making the world a safer place for all of us."

Ms Fernandes, who has never lost her acerbic wit despite her family's five-year battle for justice, which saw them flying to Turkey and to Malta to put pressure on the Mediterranean governments, had a last pertinent remark to make.

"Your Attorney General and Justice Minister were very concerned about preserving (Abbas Aly's) life and making sure that he did not face the death penalty. They got so much more than they bargained for. He has been set free even before a verdict has been handed down!"