Jamaican Muslim cleric deported

LONDON (Reuters) - The government deported a Jamaican Muslim cleric on Friday after he served a sentence for inciting the murder of Americans, Hindus and Jews in his sermons.

Abdullah el-Faisal, a Muslim convert, was jailed in 2003 and finished his sentence last month.

He lost an appeal against deportation and was put on a plane home to Jamaica on Friday, the Home Office said.

"We are committed to protecting the public and have made it clear that foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality and break our laws can expect to be deported after they have served a prison sentence," Home Secretary John Reid said in a statement.

Faisal's conviction was the first test case to use a rare, 140-year-old law against soliciting murder as a way to prosecute Islamic extremist preachers after the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States.

The British authorities have said Faisal's sermons inspired at least one of the suicide bombers that attacked London transport in 2005.