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An American Imam who had been blocked from leaving Kenya for United States has finally been allowed to fly back to his country. Officials at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport had held the Imam, after United States had declined to have him back to the country.
An article published on Salt Lake Tribune said that the Imam, Yussuf Awadir Abdi was expected to arrive in Salt Lake City at 2 p.m. (US Time) Sunday, and would be addressing the Media on the ordeal that saw him stranded at the Kenyan airport for close to a week.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in a complaint filed on Friday said that they had “good evidence” showing that Abdi was placed on the federal government’s no-fly list upon leaving U.S. and was barred from re-entering.
It remains unclear why Kenyan officials blocked Abdi from catching a flight back to the US as Kenya was not in the list of seven Muslim-majority countries targeted by Trump executive orders.
Officials at the JKIA denied being involved in the matter, saying it was purely an immigration issue.
Abdi is an American citizen and Imam of Madina Masjid in Salt Lake City and had travelled to Kenya to pick his wife and children to the US, but was blocked when trying to board a plane.