A Turkish court sentences a Syrian woman to life in prison for a bombing in Istanbul in 2022

Turkey’s state-run news agency has reported that a court sentenced a Syrian woman to life in prison for a deadly explosion on a busy shopping district in Istanbul in 2022. Alham Albashir was given seven consecutive life sentences after being convicted on terrorism charges on Friday. The blast on Nov. 13, 2022 tore through Istiklal Avenue. The thoroughfare in Istanbul is lined with shops and restaurants. The explosion killed six people including two children and wounded 99 others. Authorities accused Albashir and a man named as Bilal el-Hacmaus of being intelligence operatives of Syrian Kurdish militia group YPG and its political branch the PYD. Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.