US diverts Cat Stevens jet

Former pop singer Cat Stevens is being deported from the US today after the American authorities diverted a transatlantic flight to stop him entering the country.

The United Airlines jet was heading to Washington when it was ordered to land in Bangor, Maine, after US officials learned the Muslim convert, now known as Yusuf Islam, was on board.

His name is on an American list of those who should be denied entry to the US, but he was accidentally allowed to board the aircraft in London after airline staff failed to spot his name.

Islam, 56, and his 21-year-old daughter were escorted off the plane by FBI agents. She was later allowed to enter the US while he was put on a plane back to the UK. A spokesman for the US Department of Homeland Security said he had been "detained on national security grounds".

Passengers, including the rock band Marillion, were first told the plane had been diver ted because of bad weather.

Speaking from Bangor, Marillion singer Steve Hogarth said: "We flew today on Flight 919 to Washington Dulles. As the plane touched down, an announcement was made that we were not landing in Washington because of bad weather. But after about 10 minutes, the captain made another announcement saying it was, in fact, an FBI security alert. We all had to get off the plane.

"I then met a security guard who said the two people escorted off were Cat Stevens and his daughter. I was stunned. He is a pacifist and a great songwriter."

Ironically, Islam - real

name Stephen Demetre Georgiou - was brought up hating Muslims. Born in London to a Greek Cypriot father and Swedish mother, his early years were spent as a Greek Orthodox hating Turks and everything about them, including their religion.

He changed his name to Cat Stevens when he embarked on his pop career, becoming one of the most popular singersongwriters of the 1970s.

He abandoned his music career in the late 1970s and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. He later became a teacher and an advocate for his religion, founding a Muslim school in London in 1983.

While he has had controversial views, supporting former Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeinifor a fatwa on Salman Rushdie, he was firm in his condemnation of the September 11 attacks on the US. He said the day after the attacks: "No right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action."

Last year he released two songs, including a version of his hit Peace Train, to express opposition to the Iraq war.

Islam was refused entry to Israel in July 2000 amid claims that his charitable donations had gone to the Islamic terror group Hamas.

In a statement released by his record label at the time, he said: "I've never, ever knowingly supported any terrorist groups - past, present or future."