Irish-Kuwaiti tourist acquitted in street brawl case in Turkey

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

An Irish-Kuwaiti tourist, who made headlines in August 2015 when video footage of his brawl with shopkeepers in Istanbul went viral online, was acquitted in the case by a Turkish court on July 12. 

The Istanbul court acquitted Irish-Kuwaiti tourist Mohammed Fadel Dobbous, a former boxer, saying the case was a legitimate incident of self-defense so the suspect should not be punished.

The court sentenced one of the suspects who attacked Dobbous, Şenol Palan, to 3.5 years in jail on charges of “deliberate injury.”  

The court also handed monetary fines to two other suspects, whose sentences were postponed.

In the incident captured on camera, Dobbous can be seen going to a corner store in Istanbul’s Aksaray neighborhood to get a bottle of water before accidentally toppling all the bottles in a refrigerator. The owner of the shop immediately confronts Dobbous, brandishing a stick and threatening him. Around 15 shopkeepers then can be seen coming to the shop owner’s support to confront Dobbous. 

However, the tourist can then be seen taken on the army of Turkish shopkeepers one by one, expertly parrying blows as the attackers hurl stools and sticks at him. 

After footage of the incident emerged, it was revealed that the Dobbous had in fact once been a professional boxer.