Turkey President's rival Selahaddin Gulen grabbed from Kenya by foreign spies

A foreign national by the name Selahaddin Gulen who is considered to be a rival of Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been found after he went missing in Nairobi last month.

According to his lawyer Jotham Arwa, Gulen was rushing to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters along Kiambu Road before he was reported missing.

Selahaddin is wanted in Turkey in connection to a failed coup in 2016. He is the nephew of another wanted US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Selahaddin Gulen, a nephew of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, stands between Turkish flags in this photo provided by Turkish intelligence service Pulse Live Kenya

Turkey's Anadolu news agency published a photograph of Selahaddin Gulen in handcuffs, with Turkish flags on each side of him on Monday, May 31.

JKIA Red Alert

Selahaddin arrived in Kenya in October 2020 and spooked immigration officials due to his red alert status issued by Interpol for a purported child molestation case.

After being taken to court he was set free after filing an affidavit which indicated that he was acquitted of the child molestation charges in 2008.

One of the conditions of his release was that he was supposed to report to the DCI headquarters on a regular basis.

Police performing a security drill at JKIA Pulse Live Kenya

“It was a requirement of his bail that he should appear every Monday to confirm that he was still within the jurisdiction,” the lawyer said in an interview with Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.

Kenyan Connection

The US-based cleric Fethullah is associated with many educational institutions globally including six Kenyan schools operating under the name of Light Academy and Light International School.

On the other hand, Selahaddin and his wife Serriye work as teachers in Kenya. She said in a video on social media that her husband had gone missing in Nairobi in early May.

In 2016, Kenya declined a request to close down the six schools associated with Gulen.

How he was grabbed from Kenya by Turkey spies

Selahaddin is wanted in Turkey on charges of membership of a terror organisation, and was seized in an operation by Turkey’s national spy agency MIT, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Monday.

The report did not say where he was captured or when he was returned to Turkey.

On May 6, a Kenyan court banned Selahaddin’s arrest and extradition to Turkey, according to legal documents seen by the AFP news agency.

His case is the latest in a series of forced repatriation of people affiliated with Gulen’s movement, which the Turkish government blames for a failed coup attempt in 2016.