US set to deport Saddam stepson who wanted to join flight school

Saddam Hussein’s stepson, being held in Florida for immigration violations, will be deported from the US after failing to get a student...

Saddam Hussein’s stepson, being held in Florida for immigration violations, will be deported from the US after failing to get a student visa to cover his flight training programme.

Mohammed Nour Al-Din Saffi, 36, a New Zealand citizen and an engineer with the national airline, Air New Zealand, was enrolled for a pilot recertification course but entered the US on a tourist visa. He was planning to study at a flight school believed by the FBI to have been used by one of the September 11 hijackers.

Saffi was arrested by immigration and FBI officials in Florida on Wednesday. Jimmy Brooks, director of the Auckland-based company Tiger Lines Cargo, claimed he sent Saffi to a Miami flying school to get his Boeing 727 pilot’s license re-certified. Brooks said Saffi planned to work part time as a flight engineer. ‘‘We didn’t know he needed a student visa,’’ Brooks said.

A spokesman for New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Friday the government had ‘‘no evidence he is connected to terrorist activity or to terrorist organisations.’’ Saffi is the eldest son of Samira al-Shahbandar, Saddam Hussein’s second wife. His father is Nour Al-Din Saffi, aviation engineer and former head of Iraqi Airways until he was fired by the Iraqi leader.

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