The hot potato that everyone wants to drop
Abdullah el-Faisal has become something of a hot potato that no one wants to handle. The 45-year-old Jamaican-born Muslim cleric was arrested by Kenyan authorities on New Year's Day for preaching at a mosque in Nairobi, Kenya. This breached stipulations of his work permit.
Efforts to deport el-Faisal back to his native Jamaica have been thwarted by other countries unwillingness to let him transit though their airports.
The subsequent protests by Muslim youth which was called by the Muslim Human Rights Forum to protest the arrest of controversial cleric Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal in on Friday turned violent and caused the death of at least four people and injured 15, including a member of the GSU. Vehicles, business premises and buildings worth millions did not escape the wrath of the young protesters. The numerous youth engaged police in battle by pelting them with stones, to which the initially overwhelmed police replied with canisters of teargas and live bullets.
The controversial sheikh was born Trevor William Forest, also known as Sheikh Faisal and Sheik Faisal, in 1964 (age 45–46), in Saint James Parish, Jamaica is a radical Muslim cleric who preached in the United Kingdom until he was convicted of stirring up racial hatred and urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindus, Christians, and Americans.
El-Faisal was sentenced to nine years in prison, of which he served four years before being deported to Jamaica in 2007.
El-Faisal was born to an evangelical Christian family which belonged to the Salvation Army church, a denomination of the universal Christian Church. At age 16, he converted to Islam, after being introduced to the religion by a teacher at Maldon High School.
He left Jamaica in 1983 for Guyana where he studied Arabic, and then moved to the UK later in the 1980s.
El-Faisal studied Islam for seven years at the Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
He returned to the UK in 1991 and in 1992 began preaching to young Muslim men in mosques around the county. Some of his lectures were recorded and sold in specialist bookshops. In these lectures he called for Muslim mothers to raise their children to be jihad soldiers by age 15. The tapes were procured by an undercover policeman in February 2002 and this led to his arrest on 18th February 2002. He was found guilty after a 4 week trial and sentenced on the 7th March 2003 to nine years in prison.
Upon being eligible for parole, el-Faisal was released from prison and deported and permanently banned from the UK on 25 May 2007. He remains on an international watch list. On his arrival in Jamaica, the Islamic Council of Jamaica banned him from preaching in its mosques.
In June 2008 he was preaching in South Africa. He reportedly travelled by road through Nigeria, Angola, Malawi, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana, and Tanzania before entering Kenya.
As it now stands Muslim leaders have demanded immediate deportation of Jamaican cleric Abdullah al-Faisal and denied ever supporting his presence in the country. Civil Society groups now want the Government to charter a plane, even if it means using the presidential jet, to fly controversial Muslim cleric Abdullah Al-Faisal out of the country.
Moses Wetangula said el-Faisal would be deported to Jamaica on a direct flight within 48 hours.
No one seems to want this man here, if that is indeed the case then why did Fridays protests even occur?
Note to all: Abdullah al-Faisal is The Saudi Arabian Prince.
Information courtesy of: Jamaica Gleaner News, The Standard Online Edition and Wikipedia.
Efforts to deport el-Faisal back to his native Jamaica have been thwarted by other countries unwillingness to let him transit though their airports.
The subsequent protests by Muslim youth which was called by the Muslim Human Rights Forum to protest the arrest of controversial cleric Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal in on Friday turned violent and caused the death of at least four people and injured 15, including a member of the GSU. Vehicles, business premises and buildings worth millions did not escape the wrath of the young protesters. The numerous youth engaged police in battle by pelting them with stones, to which the initially overwhelmed police replied with canisters of teargas and live bullets.
The controversial sheikh was born Trevor William Forest, also known as Sheikh Faisal and Sheik Faisal, in 1964 (age 45–46), in Saint James Parish, Jamaica is a radical Muslim cleric who preached in the United Kingdom until he was convicted of stirring up racial hatred and urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindus, Christians, and Americans.
El-Faisal was sentenced to nine years in prison, of which he served four years before being deported to Jamaica in 2007.
El-Faisal was born to an evangelical Christian family which belonged to the Salvation Army church, a denomination of the universal Christian Church. At age 16, he converted to Islam, after being introduced to the religion by a teacher at Maldon High School.
He left Jamaica in 1983 for Guyana where he studied Arabic, and then moved to the UK later in the 1980s.
El-Faisal studied Islam for seven years at the Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
He returned to the UK in 1991 and in 1992 began preaching to young Muslim men in mosques around the county. Some of his lectures were recorded and sold in specialist bookshops. In these lectures he called for Muslim mothers to raise their children to be jihad soldiers by age 15. The tapes were procured by an undercover policeman in February 2002 and this led to his arrest on 18th February 2002. He was found guilty after a 4 week trial and sentenced on the 7th March 2003 to nine years in prison.
Upon being eligible for parole, el-Faisal was released from prison and deported and permanently banned from the UK on 25 May 2007. He remains on an international watch list. On his arrival in Jamaica, the Islamic Council of Jamaica banned him from preaching in its mosques.
In June 2008 he was preaching in South Africa. He reportedly travelled by road through Nigeria, Angola, Malawi, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana, and Tanzania before entering Kenya.
As it now stands Muslim leaders have demanded immediate deportation of Jamaican cleric Abdullah al-Faisal and denied ever supporting his presence in the country. Civil Society groups now want the Government to charter a plane, even if it means using the presidential jet, to fly controversial Muslim cleric Abdullah Al-Faisal out of the country.
Moses Wetangula said el-Faisal would be deported to Jamaica on a direct flight within 48 hours.
No one seems to want this man here, if that is indeed the case then why did Fridays protests even occur?
Note to all: Abdullah al-Faisal is The Saudi Arabian Prince.
Information courtesy of: Jamaica Gleaner News, The Standard Online Edition and Wikipedia.
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