News Radical Muslim back: ‘I’m happy to be home,’ says al-Faisal

RADICAL Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal is back on Jamaican soil after a long flight from Kenya from where he was deported.The controversial Jamaican-born Islamic preacher landed in a chartered Gulfstream jet, flight ZSJGC312, at minutes after five yesterday evening at the Norman Manley International Airport and was processed by immigration and customs officials before being released.He had been off the island for two years. He had three pieces of luggage. When the cleric emerged from the arrivals hall in a brown plaid shirt, a blue pants, a pair of sandals and white Muslim headgear known as a Kufi, he told the Observer he was jet-lagged. I’m travelling for two days and you want me to give you an interview?” he asked, as he was being whisked away by a fellow Muslim who was at the airport to receive him.“It was a very good flight, it was a private jet. I am very happy to be back home,” he added.According to officials at the airport, al-Faisal transited  through the African country Burkina Faso, the Cape Verde Islands, andAntigua, before arriving in Jamaica.Al-Faisal’s Muslim colleague, while taking him to a waiting minivan, blasted sections of the media for what he described as negative reports about the cleric.Al-Faisal was arrested in Mombassa, Kenya on New Year’s Eve after he left a mosque. Kenyan officials say he violated the terms of his visa as he was not allowed to preach in that country.He was detained at the Industrial Area Remand Centre in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi since his arrest.Kenyan police accused him of instigating young Kenyans tosupport the radical Islamic group al-Shabaab — an al-Qaeda-connected militia outfit based in neighbouring Somalia.On Thursday, al-Shabaab operatives threatened to attack Nairobi after rumours circulated that al-Faisal was still in Kenya at an undisclosed location.Al-Faisal was deported from Britain in 2007 after serving four years in prison for preaching hate.He has been accused of calling for the murder of Americans, Jewsand Hindus and has been placed on an international terrorist watch list.