NAIROBI, Kenya — A radical Muslim cleric who once led a London mosque attended by convicted terrorists was deported to Gambia today because he posed a serious threat to Kenya’s security, the immigration minister said.

Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal had not committed crimes in Kenya nor was he wanted in other countries, but Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang cited the cleric’s history of radicalism and links with terrorism.

“What we have is his history, you can call it rumors … but these are serious threats to our security,” he said. “It is in the public’s interest not to have him here.”

Britain has said that el-Faisal’s teachings heavily influenced one of the bombers who carried out the 2005 transport network bombings in London that killed 52 people. The Jamaican-born cleric has called for Americans, Hindus and Jews to be killed.

El-Faisal’s deportation to the West African nation of Gambia had been delayed because several countries, including the United States, had denied him a transit visa.

El-Faisal served four years in jail in Britain for inciting murder and stirring racial hatred by urging followers to kill Americans, Hindus and Jews.

Internet postings purportedly written by a Nigerian man now charged with trying to bomb a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day referred to el-Faisal as a cleric he had listened to.

The posting was made in March 2005 under the name “farouk1986.” The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was born that year. Officials haven’t verified that the postings were written by Abdulmutallab, but details from the posts match his personal history.

El-Faisal preached at London’s Brixton mosque in the 1990s before being ejected by mosque authorities because of his support for violent jihad.

The mosque was attended at different times by Richard Reid, who is serving a life sentence in a US prison after a failed 2001 attempt to blow up an airplane, and convicted September 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui.

The British government has said that el-Faisal also was a key influence on July 7, 2005, bomber Jermaine Lindsay.

Kimathi said that el-Faisal had come into the country on the invitation of the Muslim youths who wanted him to give lectures. Kenya has a minority Muslim population, mostly on the country’s Indian Ocean coast.