Protesters wave placards during a march in Nairobi to demand release of Jamaican preacher Abullah al-Faisal on January 15, 2010. (Photo Courtesy Hezron Njoroge)

Nairobi — The government is entangled in an embarrassing situation after an aborted deportation of an Islam preacher who has been declared "unsafe for Kenya."

Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang', who last Thursday announced Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal's deportation to Gambia, was at pains on Monday to explain that he had been brought back against the wishes of the country.

The minister termed the situation very difficult because Nigeria, where the Jamaican cleric was to transit through, had refused passage.

"We are in a very difficult situation but it's a situation we must deal with and in the interest of the country. We will not release him until we send him home," he told journalists at his office in Nairobi.

And in the event the cleric had reached Banjul, the Gambia capital, according to the minister, he would still have been returned to Kenya.

Blame media

Mr Kajwang' said media reports portrayed the cleric in a "alarmist and negative publicity," causing Nigeria and Gambia to change mind.

The plan was to ship him to his home country - Jamaica - from Gambia.

The minister also blamed himself for the mess, saying he should not have divulged the deportation details to the media until the cleric had landed in Jamaica.

"I wish we didn't talk to anybody but I thought it was my responsibility to talk and I did so.

We are not going to discuss that anymore I think it's in our interest to keep quiet about who were are talking with and when we may probably get him out," said Mr Kajwang.

A well placed government source who spoke to the Nation on condition of anonymity however said a plane carrying Sheikh al-Faisal indeed landed in Gambia but authorities there refused to play host.

He added: "We are as a country of the opinion that this gentleman is not safe for Kenya and is not a religious war, its against an individual we have very good reasons to exclude from Kenya and will try every other means to get him to Jamaica."

Kenyan authorities have declined to give reasons why the Sheikh is being held, but police sources indicate he was arrested and investigated over terrorism suspicions.

But according to Mr Kajwang', Sheikh al-Faisal had violated his visa to Kenya."The gentleman came in on a tourist visa as a tourist but later on turned into a preacher," he said.