Turkish police arrest suspect in murders of Syrian activists Orouba and Halla Barakat

Turkish police arrested of a suspect in the murder of two Syrian pro-opposition activists in Istanbul last month.

The man is believed to be a member of the victims' family. Activist Orouba and daughter Halla Barakat were stabbed to death in their apartment on 21 September with Turkish police launching a manhunt to find the killer.

— Tallha Abdulrazaq س (@thewarjournal) September 30, 2017" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post Reports of an arrest being made in the murder of Syria journalists Orouba & Halla Barakat. Suspect named as Ahmad Barakat, arrested in Bursa https://t.co/tAwL5WWlJz — Tallha Abdulrazaq س (@thewarjournal) September 30, 2017

The suspect was arrested in Bursa and detained by police, according to Turkish media.

The mother and daughter were well-known opponents of the Syrian regime. Halla worked with pro-opposition news outlet Orient News.

They were found dead in their apartment in Uskudar district on the Asian side of Istanbul.

Friends believed the Syrian regime was likely behind their murder due to their vocal opposition to Bashar al-Assad.

Aroubeh Barakat's sister Shaza also confirmed the deaths in a Facebook post, saying the two "were assassinated at the hands of injustice and tyranny". She said that they had been stabbed to death.

She said her sister had opposed the Assad regime from the 1980s going back to the rule of Bashar Assad's father Hafez.

The Yeni Safak daily said Aroubeh Barakat had carried out investigations into alleged torture in prisons run by the Assad regime.

It said she had initially lived in Britain, then the United Arab Emirates before coming to Istanbul.

Syrian activist Rami Jarrah wrote on Facebook that the family believes the killing could be due to Aroubeh's opposition activities.