Lawyer Yusuf Abubakar preparing to sue govt over Jamaican Sheikh

JAMAICAN CLERIC

JANUARY 4,2010.

BY EUGENE OMILO

Muslim leaders will now go to court to sue the government over the wrongful  deportation of renowned Jamaican cleric sheikh Abdala Ibrahim Feisal .

The  leaders expressed their displeasure with the government’s decision to deport the preacher without charging him in court.

While addressing reporters  in Mombasa Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) secretary general Sheikh Mohammed Dor said the cleric’s lawyer Yusuf Abubakar is preparing to file a case to challenge the deportation in court.

The lawyer had previuosly said he was liasing with collegues in Nairobi to go to court to block sheikh Feisal’s deportation but the government seems to have moved fast to deport the cleric on Sunday , a day before the aplication was made.

CIPK Organising secretary Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa said it was sad that almost five decades after independence, the Kenyan government was acting as per the whims of foreign powers.

“Why don’t they comply when the Western countries tell them to fight corruption but are fast to act when told to deport certain people?,” wondered Sheikh Khalifa.

He said there was no fairness in the way the government handled the cleric’s case as he was not given a chance to face trial.

“The minister concerned even went to the extent of working on a Sunday to ensure sheikh Feisal was deported as fast as possible,why don’t they engage the same urgency in fighting insecurity in the country or delivering a new constitution?” complained Sheikh Khalifa.

He cited other related cases involving foreign citizens like the Artur brothers  who were not deported with the urgency that the sheikh’s case was given.

Kenya Muslims National advisory Council chairman Sheikh Juma Ngao also condemned the government for its move to arrest the sheikh under unclear circumstances and said muslims are demanding an explanation of how the preacher was associated with terrosism.

“We do not support terrorism at all but what we want to understand is how  the government  linked sheikh feisal to terrorsim activities,” said Sheikh Ngao.

He said the government has not taken action on allegations that kenyan youth are being trained by Al Shabaab insurgents in Somali but is focusing on innocent people.

ENDS.