Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) — Kenyan police and protesters clashed in central Nairobi at a demonstration to demand the release of a Jamaican-born Muslim cleric Abdullah al-Faisal, whom the government tried to deport last week.
Police officers fired tear gas at the protesters, some of who were chanting Allahu Akbar. Agence France-Presse said live rounds were also fired by officers and that at least two people were killed. The rally today was centered around the capitals Jamia mosque. Calls to the police spokesman seeking comment on reports of casualties werent answered.
Al-Faisal was deported from Kenya on Jan. 7 after the government said he had been on a watch list of people banned from the country since 2007. Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang said al-Faisal was being sent to Gambia. The deportation was aborted on Jan. 10 while the cleric was in Nigeria awaiting a flight to Gambia, whose government denied agreeing to accept him. He was flown back to Kenya and imprisoned in Nairobi.
In 2003, al-Faisal was convicted by a U.K. court of inciting murder and racial hatred and sentenced to nine years in prison. British authorities deported him to Jamaica in 2007, according to the New York Times. He entered Kenya at a border crossing with Tanzania that doesnt have the latest equipment to check identities, Kajwang said last week. Had al-Faisal entered Kenya through the main airport in Nairobi, he would have been stopped, Kajwang said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi at [email protected].