Controversial American presidential candidate Donald Trump has once again defended his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US after it was used in a propaganda video by Somali militant group al-Shabaab.
The Republican presidential hopeful said that people had praised his courage in truthfully highlighting a “problem” that others preferred to ignore.
Trump had made the call after a shooting incident in San Bernardino, US, in which 14 people were killed.
Other Republicans, the White House and British Prime Minister David Cameron highly criticized his comments.
Al-Shabaab used a video by Trump in a campaign rally last month, and made a propaganda video.
In an interview aired by CBN News, Trump defended his call, saying some people had called him to tell him how courageous he was.
“Look, there’s a problem,” he said. “I bring it up. Other people have called and say you have guts to bring it up because frankly it’s true and nobody wants to get involved.
“People that are on different persuasions than me right now are saying, you know, maybe Trump isn’t wrong. We want to examine it.”
The video, released by Al-Shabaab’s media wing, also urges African-Americans to convert to Islam and take part in holy war. It says racism, police brutality and anti-Muslim sentiment are rife in the US.
