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GV Courthouse, Istanbul
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SV Arrival of police van containing defendants
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GVs and SVs Security forces supervising transfer of prisoners from police van into courthouse (5 shots)
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SV Defendants being taken from van into courthouse
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GV Courthouse
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SVs INTERIOR Two accused giving 'victory' signs with fingers (2 shots)
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Initials OS/WLW/PN/0026



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Two Palestinians alleged to have killed four people in Turkey's Istanbul Airport massacre have appeared in court charged with murder - and been told the prosecution would be seeking the death penalty.

SYNOPSIS: The two men, Hussein Mohammed Al-Rashid, aged 23, and Mehti Mohammed Zilh, 22, appeared before in Istanbul magistrate on Monday (August 16). Security at the courthouse was strict. The magistrate told the two men, who arrived heavily guarded and handcuffed, that the prosecution would seek the death penalty for first degree murder when their trial began. He ordered them to be remanded in custody. Newsmen and the public were kept at a distance as the alleged killers were brought to and from court for the hearing.

Four people died and 30 were injured when two guerrillas set off explosives in a departure lounge at Istanbul's Yesilkoy Airport on Wednesday night (11 August). After the explosions the two guerrillas raked the lounge with automatic gun-fire. The violence came after they were stopped from boarding an Israeli El Al airliner bound for Tel Aviv. Security men investigating the incident said the two men hid in a women's toilet while waiting for the explosives to go off.

Two days before their court appearance, the two defendants were taken to the airport for a re-enactment of the massacre. They were each handcuffed to two large policemen, and surrounded by 10 marksmen wearing bullet-proof vests and carrying sub-machine guns. Meanwhile, Turkey's Interior Minister has said the two men could possibly be handed over to Lebanese authorities.