Rights group protests deportation of Canadian Muslim cleric

By Athman Amran

The Muslims for Human Rights Forum (MHRF) has protested the deportation of a Canadian Muslim preacher Sheikh Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips who had flown into the country to give lectures on Islam.

Sheikh Phillips, who was born in Jamaica, was supposed to be on a one-week visit that would have seen him give lectures at different mosques in Nairobi and Mombasa.

"It was shocking for him and the Muslim community in Kenya that the Sheikh was denied entry upon arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport Thursday," MHRF co-convenor Mr Farouk Machanje said on Friday. The preacher had jetted in from Qatar.

Machanje said the Muslim community in Kenya wants the government to clarify whether it was a policy that no foreign Muslim scholar was allowed passage to Kenya.

"It is prudent for Muslims to be made aware so as not to subject Muslim scholars to the same humiliation visited on Sheikh Bilal Phillips. We also need to be informed if the same applies to clergy of other denominations as we continuously see foreign Bishops and pastors holding crusades in the country," Mr Machanje said in a press statement.

The MHRF official wondered what the government found offensive about the preacher this time as it was not the first time for Sheikh Phillips to visit the country.

The Sheikh had visited Kenya in 2009, Mr Machanje noted, adding that Muslims benefited greatly from his lectures. He said the Sheikh was noted for his controversial manner of preaching and is respected worldwide.

"We demand an apology from the relevant government department for the gross manner that they subjected the Sheikh to," Mr Machanje said.

Police Spokesman Eric Kiraithe had said that the preacher was deported due to "security concerns". He however did not elaborate.