This according to Wikipedia:

QUOTE

On February 21, 1989, Yusuf Islam [formerly Cat Stevens] addressed students at Kingston University in London about his conversion to Islam and was asked about the controversy in the Muslim world and the fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie's execution. He replied, "He must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear - if someone defames the prophet, then he must die."

Newspapers quickly denounced what was seen as Yusuf Islam's support for the assassination of Rushdie and the next day Yusuf released a statement saying that he was not personally encouraging anybody to be a vigilante, and that he was only stating that blasphemy is a capital offense according to the Qur'an.

However on March 8, 1989, while speaking in London's Regents Park Mosque, Yusuf Islam was asked by a Christian Science Monitor reporter how he would "cope with the idea of killing a writer for writing a book." He is reported to have replied:

In Islam there is a line between let's say freedom and the line which is then transgressed into immorality and irresponsibility and I think as far as this writer is concerned, unfortunately, he has been irresponsible with his freedom of speech. Salman Rushdie or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet, or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again.

END QUOTE

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens%27_comments_about_Salman_Rushdie

According to the Herald Sun, State upper house MP Peter Kavanagh has written to Immigration Minister Chris Evans asking that he refuse Yusuf (Cat Stevens) a visa unless he denounces violence or threats of violence against a person for the expression of their views.

See: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/yusuf-islam-formerly-cat-stevens-should-be-denied-visa-mp-says/story-e6frf9hf-1225872454459

Should Cat Stevens be barred?

....the next day Yusuf released a statement saying that he was not personally encouraging anybody to be a vigilante, and that he was only stating that blasphemy is a capital offense according to the Qur'an.

Hypetheticals. Date unknown.

Jeffry Robinson asks Yusuf Islam (cat Stevens)

"What would you do if Salman Rushdie was in front of you now"?

Answer "Kill him"

Interestingly.. (but for GOODness sake..don't tell Pericles of his lap puppy CJ MOrgan this or we will never hear the end of it)...

..when Yusuf Islam said he was "only stating that blasphemy is a capital offense according to the Qur'an."

Now..coming from a Western Muslim who knows our traditions and culture.. to say that ? hmmmm..

Well of COURSE he didn't mean it..he was taken out of context.. he was misunderstood..and how dare we even think that "Islam" teaches such a thing..after all.. it's just that ratbag bunch of Bin Ladinites isn't it? who distort the true teaching of Islam.

Aaah well.. we can all make up our own minds on this one.... The facts are there for anyone to decide about.

To answer the question YES.. Yusuf Islam should be barred from Australia on national security/character grounds. Plain and Simple.

I'd also bar Walid Aly from speaking on the ABC.. but who am I :)
Judging from the text/sms messages John Fein received most other Aussies seem to be of that view. They seemed 100% against him.

Using this logic so should some of the neo-cons in the USA and Zionists be banned, who pushed for the illegal invasion of Iraq and the murder of 1.4 million Iraqis.

If Yusuf Islam still expresses those views, he's obviously a fundamentalist religious hater who shouldn't be allowed into Australia, on the basis that he's inciting violence.

Boazy: << I'd also bar Walid Aly from speaking on the ABC.. >>

Why on earth would you do that? I've seen him on TV several times and he seems to be an eminently reasonable young man.

<< but who am I :) >>

Another fundamentalist religious hater. Different religion, same hate.

If indeed the Koran advocates the killing of another human being then yes it is abhorrent and is not the sort of values system I would want to live by despite all those protesting the need for religious moral frameworks. This is just what the extremists feed off.

However this may be a beat up in regard to Yusuf Islam's views. From Yusuf Islam's website:

http://www.yusufislam.com/faq/3ed8ab9cb40dcd15dc38b7f0efc2f696

"I never called for the death of Salman Rushdie; nor backed the Fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini – and still don’t. The book itself destroyed the harmony between peoples and created an unnecessary international crisis.

When asked about my opinion regarding blasphemy, I could not tell a lie and confirmed that – like both the Torah and the Gospel – the Qur’an considers it, without repentance, as a capital offense. The Bible is full of similar harsh laws if you’re looking for them.[1] However, the application of such Biblical and Qur’anic injunctions is not to be outside of due process of law, in a place or land where such law is accepted and applied by the society as a whole.

The accusation that I supported the Fatwa, therefore, is wholly false and misleading. It was due to my naivety in trying to answer a loaded question posed by a journalist, after a harmless biographical lecture I gave to students in Kingston University in 1989, which unleashed the infamous headline above."

There is more to this statement on the website if interested.

We let Dick Cheney in didn't we.

Al your comments about Aly are unfair IMO. Waleed Aly has always appeared to be a moderate Muslim when interviewed or on the ABC. I don't follow his religion or his religious views but he has never advocated terrorism.

Thanks pelican. Obviously, he's not a fundy religious hater now, if indeed he ever really was.

Unlike some :)