Alleged ISIL leader detained again one year after release in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

An alleged Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leader based in Istanbul has been detained once again, one year after he was release from jail in 2016.

The detention comes after Halis Bayancuk, also known by his jihadi nickname “Abu Hanzala,” threated personnel of the Istanbul Governor’s Office via a video broadcast online, after a meeting he had planned to attend was canceled by the authorities. 

Prosecutors in Ankara opened an investigation against him and he was detained at his address in Istanbul’s Bağcılar district before being taken to Ankara.

Bayancuk, along with three other suspected ISIL members, was previously arrested on July 27, 2015 after being detained on July 24 along with his wife in an anti-terror police operation in Istanbul. That arrest came after a suspected ISIL suicide bomber killed 31 mostly young people in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district on July 20. Enes Yelgün, Zeki Murat Sakarya and Murat Alıncak were also arrested by an Istanbul court, while 10 others, who were also detained in the same raid, were released. Two of the 10 people released were put on probation. 

Back in 2015, Bayancuk and his wife were arrested as the police raided their home and seized a number of ISIL-linked documents, both digital and non-digital. 

Bayancuk reportedly penned articles for several pro-ISIL media outlets and conducted militant recruiting.

Meanwhile, a court ruling has also barred a number of pro-ISIL websites from publishing.