Man captured with Turkish rebel leader's kin freed

U.S. based cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 29, 2016. [Reuters, Charles Mostoller]

A man who was abducted along with the nephew of Turkish Opposition leader Fethullah Gulen has been freed.

The man whose identity has been concealed for security reasons, was released by his abductors after 48 hours in captivity.

Lawyer Jotham Arua, who is representing Selahaddin Gulen, a nephew of Muslim cleric Fethullah, confirmed that the second man escaped unhurt.

The man had accompanied Gulen to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu Road when they were accosted by people believed to be Turkish intelligence officers working with local police.

The two were headed to the Nairobi Interpol offices where Gulen had planned to clear himself of allegations that he was a wanted man for crimes committed back home.

“He (the second man) was blindfolded and he does not know where they were taken. He was released and is now safe,” Arua told The Standard.

Yesterday, his lawyer said Gulen was yet to be traced and that they had sought orders of a judge for the police to produce him in court.

The lawyer was hopeful that the application made before Kiambu High Court judge Mary Kasango would have his client released.

In the same court, a matter touching on the extradition of Gulen was scheduled for hearing yesterday.

Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan giving a press conference in the Bekaa Valley village of Bar Elias in Lebanon. (Photo by Joseph BARRAK /AFP)

It remains unclear if the Turk was still in the country or may have been spirited to his country. This latest development comes even as it emerged that the plan to extradite the man was well executed by local and international officials from Turkey and Kenya.

Sources familiar with the matter yesterday said as soon as Gulen got to Kenya on October 7, his arrival was immediately communicated by intelligence officials working in the immigration department at JKIA.

Three days later, four men and a woman believed to be Turkish tourists arrived in the country.

By then the National Intelligence Service, which has a close working relationship with Turkish intelligence, had been roped into the matter and started tracing the man.

Gulen's abduction happened days before a ruling by the Kiambu High Court on a matter challenging his extradition to Turkey. The ruling was set to be delivered yesterday.

After a bloody attempted coup in July 2016, President Recep Erdogan accused opposition leader Fethullah, who inspired the Gulen movement, of trying to oust him from power.

Erdogan began a crackdown on Fethullah's followers, who are suspected to run in the millions and hold powerful positions in the military, judiciary and even the ruling party.

Gulen's abduction and possible deportation to Turkey mirrors the dramatic 1999 security operation in Nairobi that led to the arrest of Abdullah Ocalan, a man wanted by the Turkish government.