State says Al-Faisal deported, Muslims disagree

By Cyrus Ombati and Evelyn Kwamboka

The drama surrounding controversial Jamaican cleric Abdullah Al Faisal continued as Government contradicted itself on his whereabouts.

Even though the police told the High Court Thursday that the preacher had been deported, Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua later told journalists the plane that was to carry Al Faisal to his native Jamaica had developed mechanical problems.

But Muslim activists led by Al-Amin Kimathi of Muslim Human Rights organisation (Muhuri) insisted al-Faisal was still being held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. By late yesterday, Kimathi was still camping at the Airport Police Station, even as police officers insisted Faisal had left.

But in a span of less than an hour, Dr Mutua changed his statement and said: "Al Faisal was deported earlier today… He should be arriving at his destination later…" without referring to the earlier mechanical breakdown.

Earlier in the morning, sources told The Standard that Al Faisal had been deported. His sojourn in Kenya resulted in street protests by Muslim activists opposed his continued detention.

The Government said Al Faisal left the country aboard a GulfStream jet headed for Europe on Wednesday night.

But it was not clear whether the preacher left aboard a plane hired by the Government or aboard a commercial flight.

Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims Coast branch chairman Sheikh Sharif Muhdhar Khitamy (right) and other leaders address journalists in Mombasa Thursday. They condemned organisers of planned countrywide demonstrations and urged Muslims colleagues to keep off. [PHOTO: MAARUFU MOHAMMED/STANDARD]

Though police told a High Court judge that the Government had hired a GulfStream jet to transport the preacher to Kingston, reliable sources have told The Standard a commercial airline had agreed to carry him.

Witnesses account

Witnesses said Al-Faisal boarded the jet, belonging to a major European airline, which was to stop over in Geneva, Switzerland and Miami, USA, before proceeding to Kingston, Jamaica.

"He is not in Kenya for now. All I can tell you is that he is on his way to his country," said a source that said he witnessed Faisal’s departure.

The hate preacher who has been stuck in Kenya since he was arrested on New Year’s Eve was deported after the US and Switzerland agreed to grant him transit visas. Both countries granted Faisal, who is on the international terror watch list, one-hour transit visas. The two countries yielded after Kenya pleaded that it had to deport the cleric.

His detention in Kenya had led to riots that claimed one life and left scores injured, and huge business losses.

Sources said Kenyan authorities had secured an arrangement with an international airliner to transport the cleric back to Jamaica. The airline agreed but on condition that Al Faisal was accompanied by four police officers.

The deportation remained a top secret as authorities waited for the preacher to arrive in Kingston before they could go public on the development.

It is believed that an earlier attempt to deport the Jamaican flopped following public comments by a Government official, leading to Nigeria refusing to issue a transit visa to the preacher.

In Jamaica, measures were being put in place to ensure he would be monitored upon his arrival.

A Jamaican newspaper quoted an unnamed senior police officer on its website saying that "extra security measures" would be implemented once Sheikh al-Faisal, who has been linked to terrorism, arrive in his home country.

Proper documents

In the High Court yesterday, State prosecutor Edwin Okello said the controversial preacher left the country on a GulfStream jet bound for Jamaica.

Security was tight at the Law Courts in Nairobi as regular and prison officers took strategic positions within and outside the building.

The public, journalists and lawyers were screened at the court entrance and those without identity cards were barred from entering.

Inside the court, Faisal’s advocates Harun Ndubi and Mbugua Mureithi said no proper documents had been tabled to prove the cleric’s deportation.

"The court should be furnished with all particulars about the subject’s departure," Mureithi told the court.

Details missing in the documents produced in court include a copy of Faisal’s airticket, passenger manifest, the name of Government officials escorting him to Jamaica, and time of departure.

High Court judge Justice Jeanne Gacheche ordered the Attorney General’s office to file an affidavit and documents showing Faisal had left the country, within 24 hours.

The judge who had ordered for Faisal’s production in court said the case is to be heard inter-partes on January 26.

In the court papers, anti-terrorism police officers said that Al Faisal had met known terrorism sympathisers in Mombasa.

"In Mombasa, he met known terrorist sympathisers and between December 24 and 31, last year, he was involved in radicalisation of the Kenyan youth to join Jihad in Somalia," an ATPU officer, Charles Ogeto, said in an affidavit.

He said in his affidavit filed at the High Court registry that the cleric, who was arrested on December 31, last year, could not account for his visit.

"Our intelligence indicates that the subject while preaching in Mombasa was involved in encouraging Kenyan youth to assist Al-Shabaab militants who are affiliated to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network in Somalia," he said.

Stuck in Nairobi

In an affidavit filed Kimathi, Faisal is a holder of a Jamaican passport and his wife lives in London.

Al-Faisal had been stuck in Nairobi after major international airlines declined to fly him because his name appears on the terror watch list.

He stayed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport cells awaiting deportation since January 7. Authorities tried three times to deport him in vain.

A plan to deport him last week and on Tuesday night failed after an international airline declined to fly him because America was yet to grant him transit visa.

The cleric was arrested at a Nyali mosque in Mombasa.

He had been driven by road to the Namanga border point last week, but immigration officials there declined to take him despite entering Kenya from Tanzania.