9/22/2004
WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (AFP) - The US authorities were to send former pop star Cat Stevens back to Britain on Wednesday after he was denied entry to the United States "on national security grounds."
A plane carrying the British musician, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam after becoming a Muslim in 1977, was diverted on Tuesday after he was found to be on a London-Washington flight.
His name appeared on several watch lists and he was rejected entry by US authorities, an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"We refused him on national security grounds," the official said.
"In London, United Airlines missed the fact that he was on the watch list and allowed him to board the flight," he said. United Airlines declined to comment on the matter.
Islam was denied entry to Israel in 2000 over suspicions that he had given money to the radical Palestinian group Hamas. The singer denied supporting terrorism at the time.
The presence of the onetime pop singer, who skyrocketed to fame in the 1960s with hit songs like "Peace Train" and "Wild World," was discovered only after the plane took off from London Heathrow airport.
When the United Airlines passenger list was sent to US authorities, the name "Yusuf Islam" popped up on several watch lists, sparking the decision to land the plane at the nearest airport, in Bangor, Maine, the official said.
"Anytime you get somebody with a watch list, we want them to land at the nearest airport, especially coming into the northeastern corridor, where Washington DC is. That's our biggest concern, the northeast corridor airspace," he said.
Customs and immigration officials questioned the singer and "denied his admission to the United States" based on that interview, the official noted. His daughter was allowed to carry on to Washington.
A spokesman for the US Department of Homeland Security, Garrison Courtney, told AFP Islam's name "was placed on watch lists because of concerns that the US has about activities that can potentially be related to terrorism.
"More recently, our intelligence community has come into the possession of additional information that further heightens our concerns towards Yusuf Islam," Courtney said.
A British embassy official confirmed that the singer was to return to Britain on Wednesday and noted that London was unable to intervene in US immigration matters.
Cat Stevens, born Steven Georgiou to a Greek Cypriot father and a Swedish mother, left behind his pop music career when he converted. But he released an Islamic influenced album in the mid-1990s.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement criticizing the US decision to bar him from entering the United States.
"When internationally respected Islamic personalities like Yusuf Islam and Professor Tariq Ramadan are denied entry to the United States, it sends the disturbing message that even moderate and mainstream Muslims will now be treated like terrorists," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said.
Ramadan, a 41-year-old scholar, was barred in August from entering the United States to take up a teaching post at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and his visa was revoked by the US State Department.