Nigeria returns 'hate-cleric' to Kenya

Abuja, 11 Jan-(ANA)-A Jamaican-born Muslim cleric notorious for preaching racial hatred has been sent back to Nairobi by Nigeria, days after he was expelled from Kenya.

A Kenyan minister had said Abdullah al-Faisal was being deported to The Gambia after attempts to send him overland to Tanzania had failed.

One report says Nigeria refused to give him a transit visa, while another says an airline refused to let him board.

Kenya said Faisal was being deported because of his "terrorist history".

The cleric served four years in a UK prison after being convicted of soliciting the murder of Jews and Hindus.

His lawyer arranged for him to speak to reporters from his prison cell in Kenya.

"I was deported to The Gambia but when I reached Nigeria, an airline there declined to fly me to Gambia," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

His lawyers say they will go to court to get him freed

Faisal was born Trevor William Forrest in St James, Jamaica - though he left the island 26 years ago, initially living in the UK.

His parents were Salvation Army officers and he was raised as a Christian.

But at the age of 16 he went to Saudi Arabia - where he is believed to have spent eight years - and became a Muslim. (ANA)

FA/ANA/11 January 2010----