Saddam Hussein's Stepson Deported to New Zealand
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Saddam Hussein's stepson has been deported to New Zealand after being detained on immigration violations when he arrived at a Florida flight school attended by one of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
Mohammed Nour al-Din Saffi, 36, will remain in federal custody until he arrives in New Zealand, where he is a naturalized citizen, said Rodney Germain, an Immigration and Naturalization Services spokesman in Miami.
No criminal charges are pending, Germain said Tuesday.
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The deportation on Monday was widely expected after Saffi was detained last week because he did not apply for a student visa that would have allowed him to take courses. Instead he traveled as a tourist under a visa waiver as a citizen of New Zealand.
Saffi was working for an airline in New Zealand and planned to attend classes at Aeroservice Aviation Center, a Miami-based flight school, according to the FBI.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said that Ziad Jarrah had trained at the Aerospace Aviation Center. Jarrah was one of the hijackers aboard a United Airlines flight that crashed in rural Pennsylvania on Sept. 11.
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Authorities in New Zealand said there was no evidence that Saffi was connected to any terrorist group.
Saffi is the eldest son of Samira al-Shahbandar, Saddam's second wife. His father is Nour al-Din Saffi, an aviation engineer and former head of the Iraqi Airways.