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Newsweek (2 May 2018)

By Tom O'Connor

One of Islamic State militant group (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's closest aides has admitted to an Iraqi court that he has not seen the elusive jihadi chief since last summer, prompting further speculation about his fate.

Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council reportedly issued Wednesday the official confession of a top ISIS official, who is believed to have worked in the upper echelons of the jihadi group's administration. Council spokesman Judge Abdul Sattar Bayrakdar issued a statement explaining that "the Central Investigation Court has held filed the confessions of one accused of belonging to the ISIS terrorist organization calling for the terrorist, revealing the existence of ongoing meetings with the leader of the organization Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," a number of news outlets reported, including Arabi 21, whose article was later shared by Bayrakdar himself.

"The accused confirmed that the last meeting between them was in July last year, while he explained that he is a member of the Supervisory General Committee of the so-called Islamic state after its division into five emirates, Iraq, Sham [the Levant], Africa, Europe and the Arabian Gulf," the statement continued.

http://www.newsweek.com/isis-leader-alive-dead-top-official-says-has-not-seen-baghdadi-summer-908980