I’ve apologized to Harun Aydin who was branded a terrorist » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 9 – Deputy President William Ruto says he has apologized to his Turkish ally, Harun Aydin who was arrested on Saturday and forced out of the country on Monday.

Aydin had been expected to be arraigned in court following interrogation by immigration and Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) but his lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi who had earlier announced that his client was deported said was asked to leave voluntarily.

“Just talked & apologised on behalf of GoK to Aydin Harun, now in Turkey, who was politically arrested, tortured & falsely profiled as a ‘terrorist’ but later asked to fly out not to ashame those involved.Political pettiness is expensive/dangerous & will destroy our economy.SHAME,” Ruto tweeted.

Aydin is a close ally of Ruto with whom they were to travel together to Uganda on August 2 when the Deputy president was blocked for lack of clearance from his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Just talked & apologised on behalf of GoK to Aydin Harun, now in Turkey, who was politically arrested, tortured & falsely profiled as a ‘terrorist’ but later asked to fly out not to ashame those involved.Political pettiness is expensive/dangerous & will destroy our economy.SHAME.

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) August 9, 2021

The DP said read mischief in the state decision to block him, after reports emerged that inclusion of the Turkish in his entourage had informed the decision.

“Harun is a businessman who I helped acquire a loan of Sh15 billion from Equity bank to establish a business in Uganda. He is not a criminal,” Ruto said.

But a senior police officer who spoke to Capital FM News soon after Aydin was arrested at the airport on arrival from Uganda said he was being investigated over “criminal activities” but there was no formal statement issued by the government over the matter.

There was confusion earlier Monday on the wherebouts of the Turkish businessman after his lawyer Abdullahi initially claimed that he had been deported.

Abdullahi had told journalits that Aydin was deported on Monday morning, and vowed to challenge the decision by the state in court.

“We have been here since morning and he has not been brought,” the lawyer said, accompanied by Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and others allied to Ruto. “We have learned that the state has deported him.”

But two hours later, Ahmednassir tweeted that Aydin had not been deported.

“Slight clarification. Harun Aydin wasn’t “formally deported” by the Kenyan authorities. No passenger processed for deportation was on the last Turkish Airlines to Istanbul this morning. HARUN AYDIN left Nairobi “voluntarily,” the lawyer tweeted.

Slight clarification. Harun Aydin wasn’t “formally deported” by the Kenyan authorities. No passenger processed for deportation was on the last Turkish Airlines to Istanbul this morning. HARUN AYDIN left Nairobi “voluntarily” https://t.co/vbdpJuIvlz

— Ahmednasir Abdullahi SC (@ahmednasirlaw) August 9, 2021

It was Ahmednassir who first confirmed the deportation in a tweet on Monday morning; “Breaking news…Confirmed Harun Aydin was DEPORTED. Government realised it can’t sustain a criminal case.”

Aydin who has close links to the Deputy President “left the country voluntarily” two days after his arrest on arrival from Uganda.

Ahmednassir said “if he had committed a crime he could have been presented in court to face justice.”

He has vowed to challenge the move in court.

“As his lawyers, we will challenge the process to deport him because deportation is done according to certain procedures and laws. The government cannot just deport because someone is a friend to the Deputy President and we will challenge that,” he stated at the Kahawa Law courts where Aydin was expected to be arraigned, “We will bring him back to this country, whether it is this year, whether it is next year or the other year, it doesn’t matter,” he had said earlier before he learnt that the businessman left volutarily.

Sudi on his part defended the Turkish businessman saying, “if Aydin is a terrorist then I am also a terrorist. This is someone I know him very well.”

GSU officers outside the Anti Terrorism Police Unit Headquarters in Nairobi where Harun Aydin, the Turkish in DP William Ruto’s aborted trip to Uganda was being questioned on August 7, 2021.

Security sources said detectives were particularly keen to establish how the Turkish has been entering and exiting the country due to discrepancies in his travel documents.

Ruto was stopped from travelling to Uganda with Aydin on August 2, due to lack of clearance from the President but he has protested saying he is not required to seek permission to travel having travelled without clearance for the past nine years.

He asked the government “not to use the criminal justice system to drive the country’s politics”.

The Deputy President said political differences among leaders should not result in the oppression of ordinary citizens and the derailment of government development programmes.

He asked Kenyans not to allow politicians to take them back to tribal and divisive politics.

Ruto told Inooro Radio last week that the Turkish businessman was a reputable man and that he had helped him acquire Sh15 billion from Equity bank to set up a vaccine manufacturing plant in Uganda.

And on Sunday the DP said, “I do not associate with terrorists.”

The government has not issued any formal statement on the matter, and there was no official was willing to comment on it Monday.