the cat stevens thing

Unbelievable. What a bunch of arses.

thanks, DC.

Here's another article which explains the apparent reason Islam was denied access (it's not his music); strangely enough, the article posted by Cutty doesn't mention this quite crucial bit of information...

Flight diverted after singer found on list
Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, is denied admission into

United States
By LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A London-to-Washington flight was diverted to Maine on Tuesday when it was discovered passenger Yusuf Islam — formerly known as singer Cat Stevens — was on a government watch list and barred from entering the country, federal officials said.

United Airlines Flight 919 was en route to Dulles International Airport when the match was made between a passenger and a name on 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.

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

Officials, speaking on condition they remain anonymous, said Islam, 56, was a financial supporter of groups believed to be linked to terrorism.

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Islam, 56, was identified by the Advanced Passenger Information System, which requires airlines to send passenger information to Customs and Border Protection's National Targeting Center.

The Transportation Security Administration then was contacted and requested that the plane land at the nearest airport, that official said.

Flight 919 eventually continued on to Dulles after Islam was removed from the flight.

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 drew some negative attention in the late 1980s when he supported the Ayatollah Khomeini's death sentence against Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. Recently, though, Islam has criticized terrorist acts, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the school seizure in Beslan, Russia, earlier this month that left more than 300 dead, nearly half of them children.

Does anyone have any idea what these "groups believed to be linked to terrorism" are, because it sounds extremely vague?

-- Tuomas (tuomas.alh...), September 22nd, 2004. (Tuomas) (later)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does anyone know if he renounced his royalty account upon conversion (a la Peter Green)?
-- Rickey Wright (rrricke...), September 22nd, 2004. (Rrrickey) (later)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note also that 10,000 Maniacs included "Peace Train" on their Rhino anthology this year after making noise about removing it from 'In My Tribe.'
-- Rickey Wright (rrricke...), September 22nd, 2004. (Rrrickey) (later)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

this is amazing. they could have saved themselves the trouble, though, if they had locked him up for 'wild world'.
-- Jay Kid (biaaartc...), September 22nd, 2004. (Jay K) (later)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Does anyone have any idea what these "groups believed to be linked to terrorism" are?"
According to the Guardian, he was accused of donating tens of thousands of dollars to Hamas in 1988 (whose activities he has repeatedly expressed support for).

-- slb2 (sl...), September 22nd, 2004. (later)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is that true about Hamas? Well fuck him, then. Give him the boot!
-- shookout (shookou...), September 22nd, 2004. (shookout) (later)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK, well in future the UK should prevent every Irish American whoever donated funds to Noraid from entering the UK
-- Didoismus (kcoyne3...), September 22nd, 2004. (Dada) (later)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hamas is not entirely evil, they've done a lot of humanitarian work, the terrorism part is a more contemporary thing. Not that I support them in any way.

-- Tuomas (tuomas.alh...), September 22nd, 2004. (Tuomas) (later)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tea for the Tillerman is a good album.
-- Mark (r-...), September 22nd, 2004. (MarkR) (later)

uh, thanks.

OK, well in future the UK should prevent every Irish American whoever donated funds to Noraid from entering the UK
-- Didoismus (kcoyne3...), September 22nd, 2004. (Dada) (later)

Exactly. The thought police are at it again. Yusef Islam has been vocal about his religion and his beliefs. C'mon - aren't you glad that there are no Cat Stevens tours to suffer through? I wish certain other artists from that era had changed their names and stopped making music.

I liked cat stevens.

I LOVE Cat Stevens. Tea for the Tillerman is brilliant. But I'm glad he didn't get too whiny and bad before he converted. (His last album was really bad). I mean, do i need to see him sing old songs in a crowded throng who all wish for other days? No. I have a turntable and I can play the albums and think about doing bong hits and having tapestries as interior decoration. "Morning Has Broken" is an old hymn - the tune is Scottish in origin. It is a great message - "Praise for the morning.." it might be my favorite.

Hamas runs soup kitchens. And blows up infidels.

And breeds flesh eating monkeys.

hummus kitchens.