The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it is “deeply concerned” by the news that four refugees have been returned to Turkey from Kenya.
The four were repatriated at the request of the Turkish Government, Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The statement comes after reports of several people being kidnapped in the capital, Nairobi, on Friday.
A Briton told the BBC that he and several Turkish citizens were kidnapped by masked men.
He said he was released after eight hours when he showed the suspected kidnappers a copy of his British passport.
In a statement UNHCR said it “urges the Government of Kenya to comply with its international legal obligations, and in particular, to respect the principle of non-refoulement.” [forced return of refugees]which protects asylum seekers and refugees from any means that could lead to their removal to a place where their life or freedom would not be threatened”.
Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had agreed to Turkey’s request to return the four men to its country because of “strong historical and strategic ties” with Turkey, and that it had been assured that the refugees would be “treated with dignity”.
The four are believed to be followers of the Gulen movement, a powerful Islamic sect with followers in Turkey and around the world, whose leader recently died.
The Gulen movement runs a network of schools in Kenya and around the world.
Known as Hizmet or “the service” in Turkey, it was accused of attempting a coup in 2016 and later declared a terrorist organization.
Turkish authorities have not commented on the return.
Under the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees should not be returned to their country when they face a serious threat to their life or liberty.
Following the reported abduction, Kenyan law firm Mukele & Kakai said it was acting on behalf of the four men who were registered refugees and warned airlines not to allow them on board.
In a letter seen by the BBC, he described them as “victims of political persecution”.
The Kenyan government said it was “unwaveringly committed to the protection and promotion of the rights of refugees” and was “committed to the confidentiality and privacy of returnees”.
A Briton, Necdet Seyitoğlu, told the BBC that six other people he knew – all Turkish – were also abducted in the same way in different parts of Nairobi.
In a statement, the UK Foreign Office said it was “providing consular assistance to a British man and his family following an incident in Kenya”.
After reports of the abduction, Kenyan police told the BBC they were investigating a “kidnapping incident” after a motorcyclist witnessed the abduction.
According to the report, two cars collided and blocked a silver sedan with two passengers in the front and back.
“Approximately eight people who were armed with weapons came out of two cars, took out the two occupants” and took them away, said police spokesperson Resila Onyango.
However, the spokesperson of Amnesty International in Kenya said “it is very concerned about the reports that seven Turkish asylum seekers have been kidnapped in Kenya”.
The UNHCR told the BBC it was “aware of the reports and will provide more information when we have it”.
Turkey’s relations with African countries have grown over the past 20 years, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to strengthen relations.
But Kenya’s close relationship with Turkey goes back a long way.
In 1999, Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured by Turkish forces in the country and returned home where he was tried, and later convicted of treason.
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