Necdet Seyidoğlu, who has been working as an education consultant in Kenya for more than two years on Saturday, October 19 recounted the terrifying ordeal after he and several other foreigners were abducted in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday.
Seyidoğlu, is one of the foreigners recently kidnapped in Nairobi by suspected operatives working for a foreign nation before some of the victims, including him were freed. In a video shared by the Stockholm Center for Freedom, a Swedish nonprofit that advocates for human rights, rule and law narrated how he and one of his friends were abducted.
In the video, the British Citizen recounted how four masked men blocked their path with a car around 7:30 am while on their way to work. The Briton narrated that the abductors pointed guns at them before bundling them into a vehicle. The assailants then covered the victims' heads before they started driving them around.
"They immediately put a sack over our heads. We traveled for about four hours without getting out of the car. Our heads and eyes were covered during this time", he narrated in the video.
In a desperate attempt to know who their captors were, the victims requested their abductors to identify themselves, the abductors refused. The kidnappers also refused to tell the victims where they were being driven to.
After an additional two hours of driving, the kidnappers separated the victims and placed them in different cars. “I traveled with them for about three more hours. My eyes were still covered and they refused to answer any of my questions” he said.
Eventually, the kidnappers told him they would release him. They confiscated his laptop after he had just been forced to reveal that he was a British national.
The kidnappers eventually released him. Seyidoğlu was among seven individuals who were kidnapped by unknown assailants in various parts of Nairobi on Friday.
The incident raised concerns that the kidnappers were operating under the direction of a foreign country's intelligence agency, which allegedly employed extralegal methods, including renditions, to secure the return of its supporters captured abroad.
The kidnapped individuals were allegedly asylum-seekers linked to a political movement. Three of the abducted victims have already been released while four are still missing.
The Turkish nationals were reported to have been registered as asylum-seekers with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It is also believed that the victims had been under protection for two years.
Responding to the abductions, Amnesty Kenya condemned the kidnappings. The organisation reiterated that it was alarmed by the situation which it was closely monitoring.
"This incident constitutes a breach of Kenya and international refugee law. These individuals are refugees who have sought the protection of the Kenyan government. Their abductions underscore the growing concerns about the safety of all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya", Amnesty said in an official statement dated Saturday 19 October.
