A Kenyan court on Monday postponed its ruling on Mustafa Güngör, a Turkish refugee arrested in Kenya, until December 30, as human rights groups intensified calls on authorities to refrain from forcibly returning him to Turkey.
In a social media post Amnesty International Kenya said the court ordered that Güngör remain in custody pending further investigations, rejecting a bail request by the Law Society of Kenya and the Global Peace Foundation.
Güngör, a registered refugee in Kenya with a valid refugee identification card, was arrested on December 20 along with his wife Zeliha, their two daughters and his in-laws over allegations of links to the faith-based Gülen movement. The arrest reportedly followed a request by Turkish authorities, which Amnesty said was made under a mutual legal assistance arrangement. While his family members were later released, Güngör remains in detention and faces a serious risk of forced return to Turkey.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by the late Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle.
Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and a conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan began to target the movement’s members. He designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016 and intensified the crackdown on it following an abortive putsch in July of the same year that he accused Gülen of masterminding. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Güngör’s arrest has raised concerns of refoulement following the forcible return of four Turkish nationals from Kenya last year despite being under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The move drew widespread criticism, including from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Under the international legal principle of non-refoulement, asylum-seekers and refugees should be protected from removal to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened. The principle is a cornerstone of refugee protection enshrined in the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention as well as Kenya’s 2021 Refugee Law.
Since the coup attempt Erdoğan’s long arm has reached tens of thousands of Turkish citizens abroad. From surveillance through diplomatic missions and pro-government diaspora organizations to the denial of consular services and outright intimidation and illegal renditions, the Turkish government has employed a wide range of tactics against its critics overseas. The campaign has mostly relied on renditions, in which Turkey and its National Intelligence Organization (MİT) persuade other states to hand over individuals without due process. Victims of such operations have reported several human rights violations, including arbitrary arrest, torture and ill-treatment. MİT has acknowledged conducting operations for the forcible return of more than 100 people accused of links to the Gülen movement.
