Cat Stevens, on Government Watch List, Diverts Plane

Mr. Islam was "denied entry into the United States," said an official, and was in the custody of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The plan on Tuesday evening was to deport Mr. Islam, who is a British subject, the officials said.

The officials, both of whom said they could not be named because this was a security issue, said Mr. Islam was a financial supporter of groups believed to be linked to terrorism. Mr. Islam's Web site lists him as a supporter of many charities.

Since converting to Islam in 1977 and renouncing his former identity as a pop singer who sold 25 million albums, Mr. Islam has been quoted making contradictory statements about various issues in the Muslim world.

At one point he appeared to support the death sentence pronounced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader, in 1989, against the author Salman Rushdie for his novel "The Satanic Verses." Though he said at another point that he did not support the ayatollah's edict, his anti-Rushdie comment drew wide criticism.

After the interception of Mr. Islam on Tuesday, one of the government officials said, "He is not on a watch list for making verbal threats."

Mr. Islam was deported from Israel in July 2000 because he was believed to be a supporter of Hamas, the terrorist group.

On Tuesday Mr. Islam was on a Boeing 747-400 with 249 passengers aboard. After it was diverted, the plane was kept on the ground for more than three hours.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/politics/22flight.html

Singer Cat Stevens and his daughter were escorted off a diverted transatlantic flight by FBI agents, it emerged today.

The pop star, who converted to Islam, was denied access to the US because his name was on a security “watch list”, government security sources said.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said the singer was denied access to the US “on national security grounds” and would be returned to Britain today.

Flight 919 from London diverted 600 miles to Bangor International Airport yesterday, landing at around 7.30pm BST, after US security officials were told Stevens was aboard.

He had been allowed to board the flight after United Airlines officials initially failed to spot his name, which he has changed to Yusef Islam – on the watch list, the TSA said.

Passengers, including British pop veterans Marillion, were at first told the diversion was due to refuelling and eventually arrived in Washington six hours late.

Stevens, who was denied access to Israel four years ago, was detained and questioned, the TSA said. His 21-year-old daughter was allowed into the US.

A spokesman for United Airlines confirmed: “The 919 was ordered to land in Bangor, Maine, by the Transportation Security Administration.”

A TSA spokeswoman said: “A passenger was discovered to be a positive match on a watch list. In London, United Airlines missed that fact.

“Customs and Border Protection (CBP) made the positive match by checking data transmitted by the airline after the flight departed from London.”

The spokeswoman said customs officers contacted the TSA, which in turn asked the Federal Aviation Administration to clear the flight to land at Bangor.

The spokeswoman said the flight was diverted “to keep the aircraft from entering the north east corridor airspace”.

At Bangor, Stevens was met by agents from CBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI.

“He was interviewed by the CBP officers and ICE agents and he was refused admission to the United States at Bangor, Maine,” the TSA spokeswoman said.

She said he was refused entry under the Immigration and Naturalisation Act “based on national security grounds”.

The spokeswoman added: “ICE and the FBI were notified and they did interview the subject who was travelling with his 21-year-old daughter. “His daughter was admitted to the United States. He is being detained pending his return to the United Kingdom on the first available flight.”

Cat Stevens had a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including Wild World and Morning Has Broken.

Last year he released two songs, including a re-recording of his 1970s hit Peace Train, to express his opposition to the war in Iraq.

He abandoned his music career in the late 1970s and changed his name after being persuaded by orthodox Muslim teachers that his lifestyle was forbidden by Islamic law.

He later became a teacher and an advocate for his religion, founding a Muslim school in London in 1983.

Speaking from Bangor, Marillion singer Steve Hogarth, 45, told PA News: “We flew today on Flight 919 to Washington Dulles en route to Mexico City where we have two shows.

“At 1453 (Eastern Time), the plane touched down. As it touched down, an announcement was made by the stewardess that we were not landing in Washington because of bad weather.

“Then there was an announcement made by the captain saying they stopped to refuel. But after another period, of about 10 minutes, the captain made another announcement saying it was, in fact, an FBI security alert.”

Mr Hogarth added: “We all had to get off the plane.”

Passengers then went through immigration and Mr Hogarth was warned not use his camera.

He said: “This was pretty peculiar and I had wanted to record it for my diary.

“I then met a security guard who said the two people escorted off the plane were Cat Stevens and his daughter.”

Mr Hogarth added: “I was really stunned. Everybody knows he converted to the Muslim faith. He is a pacifist and a great songwriter.”

He said security men were swabbing bags as they began the process to reboard.

In July 2000, Stevens was denied entry to Israel amid reports that he had donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Islamic terrorist group, Hamas.

In a statement released by his record label Universal Music at the time, he said: “I want to make sure that people are aware that I’ve never ever knowingly supported any terrorist groups – past, present or future.”

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3530119

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former pop singer Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, was denied entry to the United States and his flight from London was diverted to Maine, after his name turned up on a watch list, a U.S. transportation security official said.

United Flight 919 enroute to Washington was diverted to Bangor where Islam was questioned and detained by federal authorities who planned to put him on a return flight early Wednesday, the official said.

U.S. Customs and border protection authorities discovered that the name matched a federal watch list by checking passenger information transmitted by the airline after the flight departed from London, the official said.

The Washington Post, citing sources familiar with the event reported that Islam, whose name is listed as "Usef Islam," is on several government watch lists, including the no-fly list.

United Airlines spokesman Jeff Green said the carrier was asked by the Transportation Security Administration to divert the plane to Maine for security reasons.

The TSA had the flight diverted to Maine to keep it out of the Northeast corridor airspace, TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

The flight, with the remaining passengers, departed for Dulles International Airport after about four hours on the ground and landed at Dulles around 9 p.m., Melendez said.

Cat Stevens had a string of pop hits in the early 1970s including "Moonshadow" and "Wild World" before converting to Islam in late 1977.

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=6299012

A security alert involving the singer who used to be known as Cat Stevens has forced a London-to-Washington flight to be diverted to another US airport.

The plane was already in the air when US officials identified that the singer, whose name is now Yusuf Islam, was on one of their "watch lists".

United Airlines Flight 919 was diverted 600 miles (1000km), landing in Maine.

After an interview, the singer - who converted to Islam in 1977 - was denied entry into the US.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials said the access was denied "on national security grounds", without giving any further details.

Yusuf Islam is now expected to be put on a flight out of America later on Wednesday.

Four years ago, Mr Islam was deported from Israel over allegations that he backed militant Muslims.

Yusuf Islam was born Stephen Demetre Georgiou in London to a Greek Cypriot father and Swedish mother.

Since abandoning a successful music career in the late 1970s, he has devoted himself to advocating and teaching Islam.

One high-profile activity was the founding of a Muslim school in London.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3678694.stm

cat stevens has made a habbit of funding organizations that pay people to target and kill women and children. he should not have financed these killers.

he may be too much of a coward to kill these women and children himself but he must be made to pay for his immoral acts.

>has made a habbit of funding organizations that pay people to target and kill women and children.

So has every US taxpayers.