A United Airlines flight from London to Washington was rerouted to Bangor, Maine, late on Tuesday to prevent Yusuf Islam, the British pop musician formerly known as Cat Stevens, from entering the United States, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Islam, who converted to Islam in 1977, is believed to be a financial supporter of groups believed to be linked to terrorism, US officials told the daily.
He was ”denied entry into the US”, the officials said, adding that Islam is to be deported without indicating when.
One official said Islam ”is not on a watch list for making verbal threats”.
The US Department of Homeland Security ordered the Boeing 747-400 airliner to alter its destination to Bangor, where Islam was placed in the custody of immigrations and customs officials.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) issued a statement late on Wednesday criticising the US decision to bar Islam from entering the country, and quoting a homeland security spokesperson as saying the decision was based ”on national security grounds”.
”When internationally respected Islamic personalities like Yusuf Islam and Professor Tariq Ramadan are denied entry to the US, it sends the disturbing message that even moderate and mainstream Muslims will now be treated like terrorists,” Cair executive director Nihad Awad said in the statement.
Ramadan, a 41-year-old scholar, was barred in August from entering the US to take up a teaching post at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and his visa was revoked by the State Department.
US authorities have refused to comment in detail on Ramadan’s case, but the move has been widely censured by US academics, who suspect the Swiss national has been barred because of his criticisms of US foreign policy.
Cair said Islam is to be returned to Britain on Wednesday. — Sapa-AFP