Oklahoma Man On No Fly List Fighting To Come Home

An overseas Oklahoman who hasn't been on the Sooner soil for more than a decade is now fighting to come home.

Forty-three-year-old Saadiq Long lives in Qatar where he teaches English. In April, the U.S. Air Force veteran was told he was on the Department of Homeland Security's no fly list.

He's been fighting to get taken off the list ever since, but now he's running out of time.

Long's mother who still lives in McAlester is terminally ill. Long will try to fly back to Oklahoma this week to visit her, perhaps for the final time.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is now helping Long get off the no-fly list, so he can fly home.

"Just because he's working in another country, there should be no reason why he can't return home," said CAIR Oklahoma Executive Director, Adam Soltani.

CAIR encouraged Long to purchase his ticket home. It also reached out to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and hopes by the time Long tries to board his flight this week, he'll be cleared to fly.

Long, a U.S. citizen, hasn't been given a reason for why he's on the list.

For the past ten plus years he's lived in various countries like Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and now Qatar.

Long says he's never been arrested or charged with a crime.