Radical Muslim cleric flown back to Kenya

admin Contributor
Font Size:

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Officials say a Jamaican-born Muslim cleric who led a British mosque attended by convicted terrorists was flown back to Kenya after an attempt to deport him to Gambia failed.

Officials say Nigerian authorities refused to grant a transit visa for Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal and instead sent him back to Kenya early Sunday.

Kenya says el-Faisal is a security threat and deported him Thursday after Gambia agreed to take him. Muslim leaders in Kenya say el-Faisal had been invited to give lectures, and is now being held in a Nairobi prison.

El-Faisal was imprisoned in Britain from 2003 to 2007 for inciting murder and racial hatred by urging followers to kill Americans, Hindus and Jews. Britain then deported him to Jamaica.