Banned Muslim Cleric Stopped at US Border

A Muslim cleric banned from France and Canada was discovered in the trunk of a BMW trying to cross the border into the United States at San Diego. Said Jaziri and his driver Kenneth Robert Lawler were both arrested, the Daily Mail reported.

Jaziri took a circuitous route to the U.S. border. He first flew from Africa to Europe, then on to Central America and finally Chetumal, Mexico, and then took a bus to Tijuana. In Tijuana he allegedly paid a group of smugglers $5,000 to ferry him across the border to a “safe place anywhere in the U.S.,” the paper said.

The former imam at a Montreal mosque has called for the death of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard who drew pictures of Mohammed and said homosexuality was a disease. He was deported from Canada to Tunisia in 2007 after it was discovered he lied on his refugee application, the newspaper said.

After his deportation, the 43-year-old alleged he had been tortured during the 13-hour flight to Tunisia, a claim Canadian officials deny, the Daily Mail said.