Editor's Review

  • Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi has vowed to challenge the deportation of Turkish Businessman Harun Aydin over terrorism related claims.

Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi has vowed to challenge the deportation of Turkish Businessman Harun Aydin over terrorism related claims.

Aydin was arrested on Saturday shortly after landing in Kenya from Uganda. He was scheduled to be presented to Kahawa Law Courts today, but it emerged that he had been deported to Turkey.

Addressing the media outside Kahawa Law Courts where he was meant to be arraigned, Ahmednasir noted that he will be heading to court to challenge Aydin’s deportation, arguing that the move is against the law.

He further noted that he will work around the clock to ensure his client is allowed back into the country even if it takes year to get that ruling.

“How do you arrest someone from the street, say that he has financed terrorrism, then as a government you don’t even have the guts to bring him to court so that you can see that process through? It shows how shameless this government is.

“As his lawyers, we will challenge the process to deport him, because deportation is done according to certain procedure and laws. The government cannot just deport somebody just because they’re a friend to the deputy president, that’s not an offence. So we will challenge that and bring him back to this country, whether it is this year or next year or the other year, it doesn’t matter,” he told the media.


File image of Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi. [Photo: Courtesy]

Aydin’s troubles begun after it emerged that he was part of Deputy President William Ruto’s entourage to Uganda.

The DP was meant to travel with the team to Uganda, but unfortunately, he was blocked from living the country, with immigration officials citing lack of clearance.

Following the DP’ aborted trip, reports emerged that the State may have blocked the DP’s travel because of Aydin’s past investigation on claims of being associated with a terror group.

Aydin was arrested at a German airport in 2001 over terror links after his luggage contained suspicious items.

His travel bag was reportedly found to be in possession of a face mask, camouflage clothing, a chemical weapons protection suit and materials to produce an explosive detonator.

The Turkish Embassy in Nairobi however, defended the businessman over claims that he has a criminal record, and shouldn't be in the country.

An official from the Turkish Embassy in Nairobi noted that Aydin is an investor who has been in Kenya on several occasions and a law-abiding citizen who was legally in Kenya having travelled using his Turkish passport.

DP Ruto in an interview also dismissed claims that Harun Aydin is a man of questionable repute, adding that he is a respected investor who was in the country legally.

The DP noted that Aydin has invested a lot of money in Kenya, and branding him a terrorist is bad for business.