The brother of executed hostage Ken Bigley has welcomed reports that an alleged al Qaida militant has been questioned about his murder.
Syrian Loa'i Mohammed Haj Bakr al-Saqa is being interviewed by a Turkish prosecutor in the presence of British police, a diplomat from the British Embassy, interpreters and his own lawyer, Turkish news agency Anatolia reported.
Stan Bigley, from Wigan, Greater Manchester, said he was "hopeful" it would lead to his brother's body being found. He said: "We were told by the authorities that this was happening and we are hopeful, I can't put it any stronger than that.
"We are not banking on anything coming out of this but we can only hope that this could help us find Ken's body. We all hope they do find him, especially for my mother's sake."
Mr Bigley, an engineer from Liverpool, was taken hostage in Baghdad, where he was working, on September 16, 2004. He was beheaded more than three weeks later.
Anatolia said al-Saqa was interviewed for one-and-a-half hours in the city of Kocaeli, and he reportedly told the prosecutor an unnamed television station based in the United Arab Emirates had footage of Mr Bigley's death, which may hold answers to his murder.
In April last year a lawyer for al-Saqa said the body of 62-year-old Mr Bigley was dumped in a ditch near the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
Osman Karahan told a press conference in Turkey that his client presided over a mock court which sentenced Mr Bigley to death in accordance with Islamic Sharia law. He did not say whether al-Saqa actually carried out the sentence.
Scotland Yard have confirmed detectives have travelled to Istanbul to carry out inquiries into Mr Bigley's murder, but gave no further details.
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The Foreign Office also said it was aware that officers had travelled to Turkey in connection with Mr Bigley's murder, but gave no information. Al-Saqa is currently on trial in relation to a series of terrorist bombings in Istanbul in 2003. Turkish prosecutors have previously called him a "high-level al Qaida official".
