The capture of Abdullah Ocalan

Dishevelled and partly masked by a black cloth across his face, the burly man came down the staircase of the private jet that had just landed at an airstrip in Turkey.

Then, one member of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation pulled down the blindfold to reveal the identity of their captive.

Abdullah Ocalan with a masked Turkish agent after his capture in Nairobi in 1999. He was flown to Turkey where he is serving time in jail. [PUBLICITY PHOTO]

Abdullah Ocalan, whose organisation had waged a 15-year violent campaign for Kurdish freedom, was paraded before world media.

"Welcome," one of the agents told him. "You’re our guest now."

Ocalan and his captors had just completed the more than eight hours journey from Nairobi, where he had been dramatically captured as he sought refuge in the Greek ambassador’s residence.

The drama had started on February 15, 1998, when Ocalan was seized on Kenyan soil where he was on the run.

Armed struggle

Ocalan was the leader of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which waged an armed struggle for the creation of an independent state for Kurds. To some, especially Kurds, Ocalan was a hero, a liberator and a defender of their rights.

There are conflicting accounts of how he was captured. At the time, the BBC reported he was lured out of hiding by security men who promised him safe passage to Holland.

Embarrassed Greece officials said he left his safe haven against their advice. Greek foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos said Ocalan was tricked into leaving his hiding place.

"He chose, despite our advice, to go with the Kenyan authorities to the airport," CNN quoted Pangalos as saying.

A guard who was positioned at the residence said he saw Kenyan security men storm the house and take away a prisoner.

If Kenya was involved, it violated the diplomatic immunity at the Greece ambassador’s residence by storming in and spiriting him away. However, other accounts say he was captured with the help of Mossad, Israel’s secret service, and intelligence provided by America’s Central Intelligence Agency.

He faced more than 400 pages of charges including mass murder, kidnapping leading a terrorist organisation and treason. After a trial widely seen as a sham, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later reduced to life in jail.

Turkish authorities have denied him an opportunity to appeal the sentence.