Cat Stevens has alleged terrorist ties
Find a Conversation
| Thu, 09-23-2004 - 9:30am |
Say, is anyone here besides me old enough to even know who Cat Stevens is?
Bev
* * * * * *
U.S. says alleged terror ties landed singer Cat Stevens on its no-fly list
By Leslie Miller
ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 23, 2004
WASHINGTON – The singer formerly known as Cat Stevens is forbidden from flying into the United States because of his alleged association with possible terrorists, U.S. officials said yesterday in explaining why a London-to-Washington flight carrying the peace activist was diverted.
The claim was disputed by the brother of the American-born singer, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam more than 25 years ago and lives in London.
David Gordon said his brother has condemned terrorist acts and donates money to terrorism victims. "He just wants to be an ambassador for peace," said Gordon, who lives in Princeton, N.J., and serves as Islam's business manager.
Islam, while in Washington last May, met with officials of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives "to talk about philanthropic work," according to White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.
The office is located across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. Buchan said that was before Islam was added to the no-fly list.
United Airlines Flight 919 was en route to Dulles International Airport on Tuesday when U.S. officials reviewing the passenger list discovered Islam was aboard. The aircraft was diverted to Maine's Bangor International Airport, where agents met the plane and interviewed Islam.
He was placed on a plane back to London yesterday. Gordon said Islam's 21-year-old daughter, Maymanah, was allowed to stay in the country.
In the meantime, there was confusion about how someone on the government's "no-fly list" was allowed to board a plane. Airline personnel are supposed to check passengers' names against those on the list. Anyone who matches is to be kept off flights.
United Airlines spokesman Jeff Green said the airline followed procedures in checking Islam's name and that it wasn't on the list.
Green and Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy said the airline and the government are working together to figure out what happened. It is possible that Islam's name was spelled differently on the list, Homeland Security officials conceded.
Under rules imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, once an international flight is bound for the United States, passenger information is forwarded to U.S. officials. The data can include names, addresses, flight details, seat locations, forms of payment and meal preferences.
U.S. authorities provided few details about Islam's alleged connection to terrorism.
Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle would say only that the intelligence community has recently obtained information that "further heightens concern" about Islam. "Yusuf Islam has been placed on the watch lists because of activities that could potentially be related to terrorism," Doyle said. "It's a serious matter."
A second government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. authorities think donations from Islam may have ended up helping to fund sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, convicted for a plot to bomb New York City landmarks, and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group considered a terrorist organization by the United States.
Islam, born Stephen Georgiou, took Cat Stevens as his stage name and had a string of hits in the 1960s and '70s, including "Wild World" and "Morning Has Broken." Last year he released two songs, including a re-recording of his hit "Peace Train," to express his opposition to the U.S.-led 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 is forbidden by Islamic law.
Edited 9/23/2004 9:44 am ET ET by cl-bgs3


Pages
http://www.yusufislam.org.uk/pressreleasesept04.shtml
Yusuf Islam speaks about his recent exclusion from the US
24 September 2004
________________________________
First, I thank God for relieving me of my ordeal and delivering me home safe; also, thanks to all those who prayed for me and supported me through this whole dark episode, from eminent politicians, the press and religious leaders, to plain, everyday people. Never would I believe that such a thing could happen in the 'land of the free' - unfortunately, it did. But it's warming to have such a wave of sympathy from my friends and my worldwide well-wishers.
After the experience of my dramatic deportation from the U.S.A. it feels like I am on a different planet from the one I was on a couple of days ago; certainly the world has changed, not for the best. Two days beforehand, I had started a journey with my daughter to Nashville, intending to initiate work on a new recording project. Suddenly, our aeroplane was diverted 600 miles to Bangor International Airport and I found myself surrounded by six uniformed officers and handed over to the FBI for questioning.
The most upsetting thing at this point was being separated from my daughter, Maymanah, not knowing how she was or when and where we might be united. And since my phone was confiscated I couldn't contact my family (nor could they ring me) and they were relegated to watching the whole frightening episode on TV and surviving on scraps of information shown by the media.
My interrogators repeatedly wanted to know how my name was spelt; it sounded to me as though they had it mixed up with someone else's. Security officers finally told me that my name was on a 'No Fly List', I was classified as 'Inadmissible', and sent back to London.
The amazing thing is that I was not given (and have still not been given) any explanation whatsoever as to what it is I am accused of, or why I am now deemed an apparent security threat - let alone given an opportunity to respond to these allegations. I was simply told that the order had come from 'on high'.
We have now initiated a legal process to try to find out exactly what is going on, and to take all necessary steps to undo the very serious, and wholly unfounded, injustice which I have suffered.
I am a man of peace and denounce all forms of terrorism and injustice; it is simply outrageous for the U.S. authorities to suggest otherwise. I have dedicated my life to promoting peace and understanding throughout the world. It would be devastating were the charity work I do through my humanitarian relief organisation, Small Kindness, which helps countless children and families, and which is accredited by the United Nations, to be undermined by what has happened.
What makes the situation even more distressing is the fact that I have now been prevented from entering the United States - a part of God's earth that I love and whose people have always been great friends to me.
Yet, after all this, I can think of no better response than by continuing what I believe to be the tremendously important work of caring for the needy and campaigning for peace and stability in this volatile and increasingly violent world, and at the same time try to seek to clear my name of this appalling and baseless slur. In the meantime I am confident that, in the end, good sense and, above all, justice, will prevail.
------------------------
Note to Editors: Yusuf Islam's legal advisers are currently seeking clarification on the detention from the US Consulate. Cat Stevens was one of the biggest solo artists of the 1960s and 1970s, penning such songs as Matthew & Son, Moonshadow, Wild World, Peace Train and Father and Son and selling millions of LPs. Following a bout of TB early in his career he undertook an ongoing search for peace and ultimate spiritual truth. He embraced Islam in 1977 and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. Last year he was awarded the World Social Award by former president Mikhail Gorbachev for his humanitarian relief work helping children. He also performed at Nelson Mandela's AIDS benefit concert in South Africa.
Pages