Ex-pop singer Cat Stevens, a Muslim, will be deported to Britain after being denied entry to the United States because his activities could be ‘‘linked to terrorism’’, a US official said on Wednesday.Arab-Americans and Muslims in Britain promptly voiced outrage over the treatment of Stevens, who is known as Yusuf Islam since he became a Muslim almost three decades ago.Department of Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle said Islam would be put on the first available flight back to Britain after his Washington DC-bound plane was diverted on Tuesday to Maine for security reasons.‘‘Why is he on the watch lists? Because of his activities that could be potentially linked to terrorism. The intelligence community has come into possession of additional information that further raises our concern (about Islam),’’ Doyle said. A law enforcement official who asked not to be identified said the US had information Islam had donated money to the militant Islamic group Hamas. Islam was denied entry to Israel in 2000 after the authorities there accused him of supporting Hamas. The former pop star strongly denied the charges and said his charitable donations were for humanitarian causes.Islam was travelling with his daughter on a United Airlines flight on Tuesday from London to Washington when it was diverted to Bangor, Maine.A Homeland Security official said United Airlines employees missed Islam’s name on the “watchlists” in Britain and that the plane was in flight when officials found a match from the advanced passenger information sent by the airline.UA spokesman Jeff Green said the carrier was asked by the Transportation Security Administration to divert the plane for security reasons. A leading Arab-American group planned a news conference later to protest the move.“When respected Islamic personalities likeYusuf Islam and Professor Tariq Ramadan are denied entry to the US, it sends the disturbing message that even moderate and mainstream Muslims will now be treated like terrorists,” said Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Homeland Security officials recently revoked the visa of Ramadan, a Swiss-based Islamic scholar who was to teach at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. —Reuters
