20100120
allafrica

The Kenyan Government was on Wednesday grappling with the last option available in the saga of radical Islamic preacher Abdullah al-Faisal -- hiring a private jet to deport him to Jamaica, his home country.

In Jamaica, measures were being put in place to ensure security officers would continuously monitor the cleric after he landed, according to reports by a newspaper based at the island nation.
Click to learn more...

The Gleaner quoted an unnamed senior police officer on its Web site saying that "extra security measures" would be implemented once Sheikh al-Faisal, who has been linked to terrorism, arrives in his home country.

In Nairobi, Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang' appealed to Britain and the United States governments to allow a-Faisal to transit through their countries. He said the government was stuck with the preacher because all routes to Jamaica must connect through either Britain or America.

The minister said if al-Faisal was to be flown out of the country by the national carrier, Kenya Airways, the connection would be at Gatwick in Britain then to Kingston, Jamaica. However Britain has been adamantly opposed to allow al-Faisal to transit through London. The preacher once served a four-year jail term in that country for hate speech.

The other option available to Kenya, according to Mr Kajwang' said, was an offer by the Qatar government allowing al-Faisal to transit through its capital Doha. However, the flight must connect through Miami in Florida, USA.

South Africa had also accepted to allow the preacher to pass through its airport en route to Brazil who have no problem either. But the flight has to go through Havana, Cuba, where authorities have declined the arrangement.

As such, Mr Kajwang' said, Kenya was left "with the last option of hiring a plane but it must connect through somewhere to fuel and again we do not have the money." Al-Faisal was expected in Kingston on Wednesday, the Jamaican newspaper reported.

Earlier, Internal Security minister George Saitoti said: "That person is not needed in this county and I am very surprised that there are people in this country who still believe this man is a saint. This is a man with a track record of criminality."

The 45-year-old Jamaican was arrested on New Year's eve for preaching at a mosque in Mombasa. Mr Kajwang said the action had breached provisions of his tourist visa. Initial attempts to get him back to Jamaica through Gambia failed after Nigeria declined to give a transit visa.

Muslims held violent demonstration in Nairobi on Friday which culminated in a bloody confrontation between them, the police and civilians opposed to al-Faisal's presence. Several people were injured during the confrontation as the government started a crack down on foreigners living in Kenya illegally.

The Muslim Human Rights Forum (MHRF) chairman, Mr al-Amin Kimathi, who called the demonstrations, was later arrested and charged in court alongside other people claimed to have incited the violence. Mr Kimathi had previously claimed the government failed to honour promises made by immigration minister to release documented evidence of Faisal's deportation."

According to him, the documents included a signed consent, flight manifest and the deportation order as a proof that the Jamaican had been informed of his fate after his lawyers were denied access to him. Several international airlines operating in Nairobi have refused to allow the radical preacher to board their aircraft. Al-Faisal has been on a watch-list of persons not allowed to visit the East African nations since 2007.

He was deported to Jamaica in 2007 after serving four years in a British prison for inciting murder and stirring hatred by calling for the slaughtering of Americans, Hindus and Jews.