A London-to-Washington flight carrying the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens was diverted to Maine and the singer was removed from the plane. Stevens had recently been placed on a government "no-fly" list after U.S. authorities received information indicating associations with potential terrorists, a government official said Wednesday.
The flight was diverted to Bangor, Maine, on Tuesday afternoon after U.S. officials who checked the passenger list learned the singer was aboard. Federal agents met United Airlines Flight 919 and interviewed Stevens, whose name now is Yusuf Islam.
The government official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said Islam was placed on a watch list after multiple intelligence sources in recent weeks indicated the peace activist may have associations with potential terrorists.
Airlines have access to watch lists and are supposed to screen passengers to make sure those deemed direct threats to aviation do not board planes. The official said it was unclear why United Airlines personnel allowed Islam to get on the flight in London.
A call to the airline was not immediately returned.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Dennis Murphy said Islam was "denied admission to the United States on national security grounds" and was expected to be sent back to London on Wednesday.
A second government official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. authorities think donations from Islam may have ended up helping to fund blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel.
In July 2000, Islam was deported hours after arriving in Jerusalem. A local paper reported then that the government claimed he had delivered tens of thousands of dollars to Hamas during a visit in 1988. Islam denied ever knowingly supporting Islamic terrorists...
