afrol News, 7 January - Kenya has deported a controversial Muslim cleric who once led a London mosque attended by convicted terrorists to Gambia on Thursday, the government officials said. Officials said the clergy posed a serious threat to Kenya's security.

Abdullah al-Faisal was arrested last week, but Kenya has taken longer time to deport the man because many countries, including the US, declined to have him even on transit.

Reports said Mr al-Faisal chose Gambia, and he has already been deported to that country because it accepted to receive him.

Britain said that Mr el-Faisal's teachings has influenced one of the bombers who carried out the 2005 transport network bombings in London that killed 52 people.

A Kenyan official said Mr el-Faisal was put on a Kenya Airways flight for Lagos, Nigeria on Thursday. He was expected to take a Virgin Nigeria flight to Banjul, Gambia.

South Africa and Britain also had declined to grant him transit visas after his deportation orders were made on Saturday, the Kenya official said, adding that Tanzania also declined to grant him a visa despite the fact he had entered Kenya from Tanzania.

The official said Mr el-Faisal had traveled to Kenya from Nigeria through Angola, Malawi, Swaziland, Mozambique and Tanzania. The official said it was likely Mr el-Faisal traveled into Kenya by road to avoid detection since he is on an international watch list.

Mr El-Faisal preached at London's Brixton mosque in the 1990s before being ejected by the mosque authorities because of his support for violent jihad. The mosque was attended at different times by Richard Reid, who is serving a life sentence in a US prison after a failed 2001 attempt to blow up an airplane, and convicted September 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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