Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Thursday that there is ongoing contact with the Somali authorities to bring to trial the son of the Somali president after he crashed into a motorcycle courier in a traffic accident in Istanbul and fled the country.
"We held meetings with the Somali judicial authorities. In the coming days, the defendant will come to Türkiye and the trial process will take place," Tunc said.
Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said his son didn’t flee Türkiye after he was involved in a fatal highway crash and added that he has advised his son to go back and present himself to court, which has issued an arrest warrant.
“It was an accident. He did not run away, and he hired a lawyer for this purpose,” the president said. “And there was no arrest warrant. ... So, he has a business and he came out of the country.”
The son, Mohamed, was driving a vehicle belonging to the Somali Consulate on Nov. 30, when he hit a motorcycle courier in central Istanbul, seriously injuring him.
The man succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead.
Mohamed left the country on Dec. 2 after a police interrogation. Police released him without any bail conditions after he blamed the motorcycle courier for the accident, said the Turkish public prosecution on December 6.
In the absence of “immunity or diplomatic exceptionality,” it made no difference that the Somali president’s son was driving a vehicle with a diplomatic plate, Turkish officials said, adding that the Turkish Justice Ministry was handling the process.
