Yemeni media is reporting that Egyptian cleric Wagdy Ghoneim has been detained at the Sana’a International Airport and is expected to be deported back to Qatar. According to a report in the Yemen Post:
Prominent Islamic preacher Wagdy Ghoniem was detained at Sana’a International Airport and was informed that he is unwanted in Yemen.? National Security detained Ghoneim upon his arrival Monday to Sana’a, together with his wife, as he was coming from Qatar.? Sources confirmed that Ghoneim would remain in custody until Tuesday morning, and to be deported with his family back to Qatar. It is worth mentioning that he has official residence in Yemen.? The Islamic preacher Wagdy Ghoneim has been living in Yemen since his expulsion from Bahrain for political reasons. It is believed that this situation has occurred as a result of Ghoneim’s comments recently against the Yemeni regime or fears that he might be playing a political role in the Yemeni revolution especially that he was arriving from Qatar, which the Yemeni regime accused of supporting the revolution.
Wagdy Ghoneim ((aka Wagdi Ghneim, Wagdi Ghuniem) is an Egyptian cleric known for his anti-Semitic speeches. In January 2005, Mr. Ghoneim agreed to be voluntarily deported from the U.S. based upon Department of Homeland Security concerns that his past speeches and participation in fund-raising activities could be supportive of terrorist organizations. Following deportations from Bahrain and South Africa, he appears to have settled in Qatar where MEMRI reported on remarks by Mr. Ghoneim which aired on Al-Jazeera TV and which praised violent Jihad and criticized the U.S. and Europe as “Godless” nations. Ghoneim is closely tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood and has been a frequent speaker or invited speaker at Brotherhood events including those sponsored by the Union of Islamic Organizations in Italy (UCOII), the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI), and the League of Swiss Muslims. Known for his anti-semitic speeches, global media have also reported that he is closely associated with Hamas. Ghoneim was recently identified as one of sixteen individuals on a Home office list of people banned from the U.K. on the basis of ” unacceptable behaviour by seeking to foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs and to provoke others to commit terrorist acts. In July, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that Mr. Ghoneim was added by Egyptian authorities to a list of 90 leaders of the “International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood”
An earlier post discussed Mr. Ghoneim’s remarks in which he called the toilet “the bathroom of Satan.”