Singer kicked out over spelling

2004-09-26 12:03

New York - An incident this week in which British former pop star Cat Stevens was deported from the United States to London as a "no-fly" terrorist risk was caused by a spelling error, Time magazine reported on Saturday.

Stevens, 57, gave up his successful pop career in the late 1970s, taking the name Yusuf Islam and converting to Islam.

He had been travelling from London to Washington on Tuesday when his flight was diverted to Bangor, Maine, where he was detained on "national security grounds" and summarily put on a plane to London, according to US security officials.

Asa Hutchinson, the US Department of Homeland Security's under secretary for border and transportation security, refused to specify the allegations against Islam.

Time, in its on-line edition, quoted aviation sources with access to the "no-fly" list as saying there is no entry on the list under the name "Yusuf Islam," but that there is a "Youssouf Islam" on the list. They said the incorrect name was added to the list this summer.

Because Islam's name is spelled "Yusuf" on his passport, said the sources, he was allowed to board a plane in London bound for the United States.

The US Transportation Safety Administration alleges that Islam has links to terrorist groups, which he has denied.

Islam, back in London, said on Friday he had begun legal action against US authorities.

"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," he said in a statement.

"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."

- AFP