Yusuf Islam: Once a Cat, Never a Ringo

One fan British singer Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) may wish he never had is Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind Egyptian preacher serving life in U.S. prison for plotting to bomb New York City landmarks. The blind sheik's admiration for the pop star was documented in a video made by authorities at a U.S. prison in Minnesota during a 2000 visit to Sheik Omar by his U.S. lawyer and Mohammed Yousry, a friend. According to a transcript, the sheik spent much of the visit dictating messages. At one point, he gave Yousry a list of Muslims, including Islam, whom he hoped would support his causes. Yousry asks the sheik's lawyer, Lynne Stewart: "Do you know this guy who was a member of the Beatles or something, and he now announced that he is a Muslim or something, and he converted to Islam..." "Is it Ringo?" the lawyer asks. "Maybe... He was one of the Beatles, the famous Beatles group of England... I don't remember his English name," Yousry responds. (The transcript was entered into evidence in the current trial of Yousry and Stewart on charges of conspiring to support terrorism. They deny the charges.) In September, Islam, a Muslim convert, was a focus of controversy when Homeland Security banned him from America for possible terrorist connections. A U.S. security official says the decision to bar Islam was based on intel allegedly linking him to suspects with more current terror connections than the sheik. Islam has denied any terrorist ties.

© 2004