ISTANBUL (SD) -A Court in Istanbul has sentenced today, the son of the President of Somalia to 2 1/2 years in prison, accusing him of causing the death of a motorcycle courier. However, the sentence was commuted to a fine.

Mohammed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud faced charges of “causing death by negligence” after hitting Yunus Emre Gocer with his car on November 30. Police in Istanbul issued an arrest warrant for the president’s son after Yunus Emre Gocer died but he had left the country by then.

Mohamud Hassan Sheikh returned to Turkey last week to testify about the accident.

Today, the Istanbul court convicted Mohamud of negligent death and sentenced him to pay a fine of $910.

The Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of up to six years for Mohamud.

Gocer’s father had planned to appeal the court’s decision, his lawyer Tugba Aydin told reporters.

The death of the Prosecutors had threatened to strain the friendship between Turkey and Somalia.

Turkey has had a close relationship with Somalia since 2011 when then-Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visited the East African country during a severe famine.

Turkey has since provided significant humanitarian aid, built economic projects, and established a military base in Somalia to train soldiers and police officers.