MIAMI, July 9: US authorities deported a stepson of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who had been detained for failing to obtain a student visa to take a course at a flight school, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) said on Tuesday.

Mohammad Saffi, 36, was sent back to New Zealand on Monday evening, the spokesman said.

As a New Zealand citizen, Saffi was covered by the US visa waiver programme that does not require a special entrance visa to gain entry to the United States, but immigration officials said he had failed to obtain the student visa he needed since he planned to take a three-day course.—AFP