London to Washington DC Flight Diverted

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Associated Press

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133095,00.html



Cat Stevens converted to Islam in 1977

WASHINGTON - A plane bound for Washington from London was diverted to Maine on Tuesday after passenger Yusuf Islam -- formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens -- showed up on a U.S. watch list, federal officials said.

United Airlines Flight 919 had already taken off from London en route to Dulles International Airport when the match was made between the passenger and the watch list, said Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration.

The plane was met by federal agents at Maine's Bangor International Airport around 3 p.m., Melendez said.

Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the individual as Islam.

One official said Islam, 56, was identified by the Advanced Passenger Information System, which requires airlines to send passenger information to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's National Targeting Center. TSA was then contacted and requested that the plane land at the nearest airport, the official said.

"He was interviewed and denied admission to the United States on national security grounds," said Homeland Security spokesman Dennis Murphy. He said the man would be put on the first available flight out of the country Wednesday.

Islam, who was born Stephen Georgiou, took Cat Stevens as a 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 '70s 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 was forbidden by Islamic law. He later became a teacher and an advocate for his religion, founding a Muslim school in London in 1983.

Islam recently condemned the school seizure by militants in Beslan, Russia, earlier this month that left more than 300 dead, nearly half of them children.

In a statement on his Web site, he wrote, "Crimes against innocent bystanders taken hostage in any circumstance have no foundation whatsoever in the life of Islam and the model example of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him."


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UNITEDSTATESACTION RESEARCH AND INPUT:

OK - What aout Yusef Islam (aka "Cat Stevens") in past 30 years?
Is he just a peaceful old rock and roll singer, as mainstream press would suggest? 
Let's see:
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Yusef Islam and Support of Iran Islamist fundamentalists:

-- http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0%2C5744%2C10643584%255E1702%2C00.html

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From Steven Emerson Senate testimony in 1998:

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6453/emerson.html

In regards to "Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP)... has close ties to Hamas and has trumpeted its support for terrorist activities."

"One IAP publication entitled "America's Greatest Enemy: The Jew and an Unholy Alliance," has been routinely distributed at Islamist conventions. Another lAP brochure, authored by Yusef Islam, formerly known as the singer Cat Stevens before he converted to Islam, contains plain old anti-Semitism: The Jews seem neither to respect God nor his creation."

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Yusef Islam ptovides funding to terrorists connected to 1993 WTC bombing?

May 21, 2003 NY Daily News Story references:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/81149p-74395c.html

The article by Jake Tapper claims that Stevens, who changed his name to Yusef Islam in 1977, gave the money to Mouhammad Abdel- Rahman, a son of the notorious blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

"We don't think this - we know it," Israeli government spokesman Daniel Seaman tells the magazine.

Islam also helped radical cleric Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad get a lawyer after he was jailed for saying Britain's then-Prime Minister John Major was "a legitimate target" for assassination, the mag reports.

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Yusef Islam supports Ayatollah Knomeini's fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie:

Music of Peace alert.


NY Times Book Review - May 23, 1989

-- http://partners.nytimes.com/books/99/04/18/specials/rushdie-cat.html

LONDON, May 22 -- The musician known as Cat Stevens said in a British television program to be broadcast next week that rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author Salman Rushdie, ''I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing.''

The singer, who adopted the name Yusuf Islam when he converted to Islam, made the remark during a panel discussion of British reactions to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's call for Mr. Rushdie to be killed for allegedly blaspheming Islam in his best-selling novel ''The Satanic Verses.'' He also said that if Mr. Rushdie turned up at his doorstep looking for help, ''I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like.''

''I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is,'' said Mr. Islam, who watched a preview of the program today and said in an interview that he stood by his comments.

The statements by Mr. Islam and several other participants in the discussion demonstrate how divided British liberal intellectuals remain over the affair. British writers and publishers have signed petitions backing Mr. Rushdie's freedom to write what he wishes, but there have been no public readings of his works. 'Not a Pacifist Religion'

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In January, Yusef Islam, better known as folk singer Cat Stevens, endorses the Ayatollah Khomeni's call for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie. Following the pronouncement, radio stations across the U.S. pull his records from play. Radio talk show host Tom Leykis runs a steam roller over a collection of Cat Stevens records in protest.

-- http://citypages.com/databank/24/1179/article11370.asp

-- http://www.phillywire.com/Cat_Stevens.html

Muslim convert Yussef Islam, formerly popular singer Cat Stevens, likewise supports Khomeini's edict: "If someone defames the prophet, then he must die." USA Today, 18 Feb. 1989, 4A.

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During the Gulf War he raised further controversy by his comments in support of Saddam Hussein.

-- http://www.phillywire.com/Cat_Stevens.html

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Yusef Islam as a fundraiser for Hamas:
-- http://www.massmic.com/mmicnews71700.htm

Al-Islam, who now sings only for his mosque, had "transferred funds" to Hamas in the past, the spokesman told Reuters.

from Reuters, 7/15/00
Israel Turns Away Former Pop Musician
Updated 6:23 AM ET July 13, 2000

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has denied entry to former British pop musician Yousef al--Islam because he supports the militant Palestinian organization Hamas, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

Al-Islam, who was known as Cat Stevens before converting to Islam in 1977, landed in Israel on a flight from Germany early on Wednesday. He was held at the airport for several hours and sent back to Germany, government spokesman Moshe Fogel said.

Al-Islam, who now sings only for his mosque, had "transferred funds" to Hamas in the past, the spokesman told Reuters.

"There was a problem with allowing him into the country because he is a Hamas supporter," he said.
"He didn't seem like he was coming here for summer tourism. Any country has the right to prevent...terror within its own borders."

As Cat Stevens, Al-Islam became famous in the 1970s for several recordings, including "Peacetrain" and "Moonshadow."

Fogel said his trip was intended to show support for the Palestinian cause while Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat were trying to hammer out a final peace deal at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David.

"He knew before he got on the plane that he didn't have permission to come into the country," Fogel said.

Israel has sought to cut financial support for Hamas, which opposes the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and has been held responsible for numerous guerrilla attacks in which scores of Israelis have been killed or wounded.

Al-Islam's Islamic faith was not the issue, and there was no discrimination or mistreatment of the musician, Fogel said.

"Israel has had numerous visits by celebrities who have turned to Islam," he said. "They have been received with open arms and enjoyed their stay."

And more from: Undercover news 7/17/00,
http://www.undercover.net.au/rntoday3.html

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Yusef Islam and 9/11 - Terrorists Could Not Be Islamic
-- "While it is still not clear who carried out the attacks, it must be stated that no right thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action: the Qur'an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. "

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On the positive side, Yusef Islam has also
- Condemned 9/11, although not admitted it was caused by Islamists
- Asked terrorists to release Daniel Pearl in 2002:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/02/02/pearl.yusuf.islam/index.html