Nairobi — The Muslim cleric deported from Kenya at the end of the week has arrived in his homeland, Jamaica, where he was received by the country's police and held for questioning.
Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal stepped on Jamaican soil on Friday evening and a newspaper - Jamaican Gleaner - ran a photo of him at the Norman Manley International Airport.
He was dressed in jeans trousers and a checked shirt and carried two suitcases.
He is said to have told reporters at the airport he was too tired to talk after flying for two days and could not disclose the route the chartered Gulfstream jet took to get to the island nation.
The 46-year-old cleric is however said to have told the journalists that the flight was paid for by a South African company and the paper quoted "informed sources" saying it made stops to refuel in Burkina Faso, the Republic of Cape Verde and Antigua.
The man now referred to as the 'hate cleric' for his infamy for preaching hatred was also questioned by that country's Special Branch investigators for nearly an hour before he was whisked away in a minibus.
The Jamaican Gleaner also quoted sources who said the trip had cost $500,000 (Sh37.5 million). Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang' had said Kenya could not afford the Sh40 million needed to ferry the cleric home.
Government spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua confirmed that the cleric arrived in Jamaica at about 1 a.m. Kenyan time, nearly four hours after the time the government there was said to have been expecting him.
Lawyer and human rights activist Harun Ndubi told the Nation Sheikh Al-Faisal "retains the right to sue the Kenyan government for the violation of his fundamental rights."
He accused the authorities of recklessness by allowing the cleric into Kenya in the first place and later holding him incommunicado after the blunder was discovered.
"Had they denied him entry in the first place, nobody would have paid a shilling to take him to his country of origin. With the tourist visa he had, there is a legal way of dealing with him and this should have been followed," said Mr Ndubi.
The necessity of a direct trip on a chartered plane arose after several attempts to deport him failed due to the refusal by countries to allow him to fly over their air-space or provide him with a transit visa.
Sheikh al-Faisal was deported from the United Kingdom in May 2007 after serving a seven-year stint in prison for soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred.
He was arrested on New Year's Eve in Mombasa as he left a mosque and initially accused of going against the conditions of the two-months visa he had been granted on entry by preaching.
The cleric was also said to have encouraged Kenyan Muslims to join the Islamic extremist group Al-Shaabab, which is based in war-torn Somalia and is fighting the Transitional Federal Government.
Muslim human rights activists started agitating for his release after the government made it clear he would be held until his deportation. There were violent protests in Nairobi two weeks ago after police attempted to stop a demonstration by Muslim youths after prayers at Jamia Mosque.
Sheikh al-Faisal entered Kenya from Tanzania and the authorities were later informed that he was on a list of persons not allowed to enter East African countries since his deportation from the UK in 2007.
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