Judge Killed in Turkey Court Attack

17/05/2006| IslamWeb

One judge has died and four others have been wounded after a gunman opened fire inside the building housing Turkey's highest court.

The suspected attacker said the shootings were in retaliation for a recent ruling against a teacher who wore an Islamic-style head scarf.

The dead judge, Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin, was shot in the head and died later in hospital, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Four of the judges - including Ozbilgin - had voted in February against the promotion of an elementary school teacher who wore an Islamic-style head scarf outside of work. 

The fifth had voted in favour.

The judges' pictures had earlier been published in a national pro-Islamic newpaper, Vakit.

The attacker said he carried out the attack to punish the judges for their decision on head scarves, Tansel Colasan, the deputy head of the administrative court, told reporters.

The head of the court chamber, Mustafa Birden, was wounded in the liver and the spleen and was successfully operated on, Dr Ugur Erdener of Hacettepe University Hospital said.

A sixth judge escaped the attack unharmed by throwing himself onto the floor, reports said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Police officers escort a suspected gunman from a police car as they arrive at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Ankara May 17, 2006. (Reuters)