US no-fly list leaves British Muslim stranded in Canada
February 16th, 2011 - 3:49 pm ICT by IANSBy Gurmukh Singh
Toronto, Feb 16 (IANS) Probably in the first such case in international travel, the US no-fly list has left a British man stranded in Canada.Dawood Hepplewhite, who is a convert to Islam, turned up at Toronto’s Pearson Airport Sunday only to be told that he couldn’t board an Air Transat flight to Britain.
The 30-year-old British said he was flying home when he he told that he could not board the plane as his name was on the US no-fly list. Hepplewhite said even Air Canada and British Airways also refused to let him fly the next day, according to the Canadian Press.
Since most flights from Canada pass over the US airspace, airlines don’t pick up passengers listed on the US no-fly list.
Hepplewhite, who comes from Sheffield in England, said he was never a security risk. But he said he suspected his name landed on the US no-fly list because he is a white convert to Islam and once applied to work in Yemen.
The US considers Yemen a hotbed of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian man who tried to blow a Northwest flight near Detroit on Christmas eve in 2009, was linked to AQAP.
(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)
- U.S. State Department designates al-Qaeda operative Othman Al-Ghamdi - Jun 17, 2011
- US plane attacker out of hospital, held at undisclosed location - Dec 28, 2009
- Canada lists Yemen-based al-Qaeda group as terrorist organization - Dec 24, 2010
- Britain suspends flights from Yemen - Jan 20, 2010
- Nigerian bomber warns of more terror attacks 'soon' - Dec 29, 2009
- Plane attacker is son of Nigerian banker, studied in Britain - Dec 27, 2009
- Christmas Day plot connects Nigeria, Yemen and Guantanamo - Dec 30, 2009
- Nigeria to conduct investigation into terrorist suspect - Dec 27, 2009
- Nigerian terrorist was called 'the Pope' - Dec 28, 2009
- Jet plot suspect told dad he would not see him again - Jan 02, 2010
- Obama expects accountability for breach in security - Dec 30, 2009
- Obama to release first findings from Detroit plot review - Jan 07, 2010
- Nigerian bomber Abdulmutallab joined al-Qaeda in UK - Jan 08, 2010
- Air India begins non-stop flights from Canada - Nov 02, 2010
- Nigerian sets off explosive device on plane; White House calls it terror attempt (Fourth Lead) - Dec 26, 2009
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