WASHINGTON: Imam Hafiz M Hamid, Jamaatud Daawa chief Hafiz Saeed’s brother, and his family were unable to leave the US on Monday night as UK authorities refused to permit them to transit through London. Efforts are now afoot to have them put on a flight that does not encounter such a problem. The family stayed at the Boston airport until late Monday night. The flight they were supposed to have boarded for London left at 8pm. The reason the British authorities are said to have given is that Imam Hamid does not possess a valid US visa. He and his family had to choose between forced and voluntary deportation. They are believed to have chosen the latter. Hafiz Hamid was imam at the Islamic Centre of Greater Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, and had been fighting immigration regulation infringements for the last several months. His other brother, Hafiz Masood, is also fighting deportation and is now waiting for the next hearing of a US federal immigration court on October 11. On Friday, June 1, a fundraiser was arranged by his friends and supporters to aid him and his family. In 2000, the deported imam came to the US to attend a finance conference organised by the Harvard Programme for Islamic Finance. He stayed on to become the imam of the Worcester mosque. He worked closely with the Islamic Society of Boston. Before coming to the US, he is believed to have been in charge of the Lashkar-e-Taiba safe house at Moon Chowk, Lahore, a “facility” that no longer exists.