Kenya deports Jamaican born Muslim cleric to Gambia

Thursday, 07 January 2010 15:59

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A Jamaican born Muslim cleric expelled from Britain after been convicted for making hate speech directed towards non Muslims was on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 deported to The Gambia.
Abdullah al-Faisal, born Trevor William Forrest in St James, Jamaica, was arrested last week by the Kenyan authorities, and conflicting reports about his whereabouts soon ensued. Speculations aroused last Wednesday that he had been deported, but no one appeared to know his destination. He was later said to have gone to Tanzania or his home country of Jamaica.

"We had problems deporting him because many countries, including the US, declined to have him even on transit," Kenya's Immigration Minister, Otieno Kajwang, told AFP on Thursday, after disclosing that Mr Faisal had in fact been been deported to Gambia.

Mr Kajwang said Mr Faisal, who served four years in a UK prison after being convicted of soliciting the murder of Jews and Hindus, was being expelled for his "terrorist history".

"He chose Gambia and we have deported him there this morning," the Immigration minister said. "In fact the information we have is that he has already landed there and Gambia has received him."

Prior to this new development about the where about of Mr Faisal, a number of conflicting reports said he was on his way to his home country of Jamaica.
Born to parents who were Salvation Army officers, Faisal who is said to have left Jamaica for the UK 26 years ago was raised as a Christian.
At the age of 16 he went to Saudi Arabia – where he is believed to have spent eight years – and became a Muslim.

He is accused of preaching racial hatred, urging his audience to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners.

Faisal is reported to have been to a number of countries, among them South Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland and Malawi and Tanzania, before finally surfacing in Kenya.