Turk Harun Aydin faces court as DP Ruto protests arrest

A Turkish national detained on arrival from Uganda will appear in court on Monday as Deputy President William Ruto protested abuse of security agents to settle political scores.

Multiple sources indicated that Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) detectives will be seeking to hold Mr Harun Aydin for more time to allow them conclude investigations into his alleged involvement in terrorist financing.

Mr Aydin was seized by police at Wilson Airport on arrival from a private trip in Uganda on Saturday. The DP would have been part of the trip had the State not barred him from leaving the country last Monday.

Sources said police will also be looking to establish how the foreigner has been making trips into and out of Kenya without having his visa imprinted with the requisite stamps.

This year, the Turk, whose mission to Kenya was not immediately clear, has reportedly made six trips originating from Istanbul, Cairo and Addis.

On Sunday, lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi said he was yet to meet his client.

“For the second day running I was denied the right to see Harun Aydin. The reason remains the same… “orders from above”. Fortunately, they have no choice but to bring him to court tomorrow as Article 50 of the Constitution kicks in,” he tweeted.

A Turkish embassy official in Nairobi has maintained that Mr Aydin has no criminal record back home and that he has in the past travelled to Nairobi on many occasions as an ‘investor’.

The official, however, declined to divulge the nature of his business interests in the country.

The DP has protested the arrest, calling it a political witchhunt, and vowing not be cowed by the arrest of his close associates.

“If we had spent the energy, resources and the time we have spent fighting our perceived political enemies, the country could have realised the Big Four agenda dream,” Mr Ruto said yesterday at the St Joseph Catholic Church in Naivasha.