Court detains Turkish refugee Mustafa Güngör arrested in night raid
The government will hold the Turkish national, Mustafa Güngör, who was detained in a night raid on Sunday, until December 30
The government will hold the Turkish national, Mustafa Güngör, who was detained in a night raid on Sunday, until December 30, the court has ruled.
Principal Magistrate Gideon Kiage has, on December 22, postponed the sentencing at the request made by the DCI and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to detain Güngör.
More investigations were allowed to proceed, and the date for the next hearing was set for Tuesday, December 30.
Güngör, who had been living in Kenya for more than 15 years and is an established refugee, was detained along with his wife and children in the midnight hours of December 21 for his suspected connection to the Gülen movement and funding terror.
Present in court were his family, friends, and lawyers from Amnesty International Kenya, Law Society of Kenya, and Global Peace that argued that his pretrial detention terms were considered excessive and unnecessary if prolonged.
However, despite these reservations, the magistrate decided that Güngör was to be kept in custody but that visits were to be arranged, with the confirmation that he was to appear for the December 30 judgment.
Human rights activists had warned that the lack of formal charges against the detained refugee for such a long time was a violation of the law of refugee rights as established under the 2021 Refugee Act of the Republic of Kenya.
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They also noted that Güngör had been living in peace with his family for years in Kenya. Despite this protected status, authorities cited alleged links to the Gülen movement, a group that has been the target of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since the failed coup attempt in 2016.
Erdoğan’s government classifies the movement as a terror organisation, a claim strongly denied by its members.
This was the third known case of Turkish nationals being detained in Kenya over alleged Gülen ties.
In October 2024, four Turkish refugees were forcibly repatriated to Turkey despite UN protection, drawing international criticism.
In August 2021, a Turkish businessman by the name Harun Aydin was detained at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport on similar allegations and deported without facing charges.
Human rights groups pointed out that forcing a refugee to return to a country where they could face persecution violated both international law and Kenya’s 2021 Refugee Act.
Amnesty International pointed out that Güngör and his family were at risk of “refoulement,” a practice previously involved in arbitrary detention and mistreatment for those who were linked to the Gülen movement.
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