The New York Times · 21 June 1986

CP-1986-019

Achille Lauro Hijacker Testifies Against Comrades

By ROBERTO SURO

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Transcribed from the clipping

GENOA, Italy, June 20 — One of the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro told an Italian court here today that a fellow hijacker had admitted killing a handicapped New York man aboard the ship. He also testified that the operation had been directed by Mohammed Abbas, leader of a Palestinian guerrilla faction.

Ahmad Maruf al-Assadi, a key witness for the prosecution, said the Palestinian gunman accused of slaying Leon Klinghoffer came to him soon after the killing with blood on his clothes and announced, “I have killed the American.” Mr. Klinghoffer used a wheelchair. Testifying in the trial of 15 men accused of various crimes relating to the hijacking last October, Mr.

Assadi offered the first direct testimony to emerge in public that Mr. Abbas was responsible for the operation. The Reagan Administration has consistently accused Mr. Abbas of directing the hijacking, and a heated disagreement on this point with the Italian Government caused a period of strain in United States-Italian relations last fall. Mr.

Assadi also offered the first testimony implicating the shipboard leader of the hijacking team, Magid al-Molqi, in Mr. Klinghoffer’s killing. Appearing before the court Thursday, Mr. Molqi disavowed a signed confession in which prosecutors said he had admitted shooting the American tourist in the head and chest on Oct. 8, the second day of the hijacking.

Threats and insults shouted at Mr. Assadi by other defendants interrupted today’s proceedings several times. Mr. Assadi is the only one of the defendants to express repentance for his role, and today he appeared willing to cooperate with the prosecution despite occasional inconsistencies in his testimony.

The other two hijackers on trial have retracted statements made in the pretrial investigation, and both maintained in testimony that Mr. Klinghoffer was never even aboard the ship. The fourth member of the hijacking team, a minor, is being dealt with in separate proceedings. When the 69-year-old Mr.

Klinghoffer was killed, the ship was stopped off Syria and the hijackers were trying to persuade the Syrian authorities to let them enter the port of Tartus so they could begin negotiations for the release of 50 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, according to the prosecution. The prosecutors say the killing was designed to force acceptance of the hijackers’ demands.

Asked whether he tried to stop Mr. Molqi from killing Mr. Klinghoffer, Mr. Assadi said: “Yes, it is true, because I asked him why he wanted to take the American away, but he told me not to interfere. He swore he would not do him any harm.” Mr. Assadi, 24 years old, said he saw Mr. Molqi order a steward to take Mr. Klinghoffer away in his wheelchair.

No one actually witnessed the killing, prosecutors said, but next week the court is expected to hear the steward along with a crewman who later helped him throw Mr. Klinghoffer’s body into the sea on Mr. Molqi’s orders. After he had been gone for a half hour, Mr. Molqi returned to where Mr. Assadi was guarding a group of passengers, Mr.

Assadi said, adding: “I saw his shirt was full of blood, and I asked him what happened. He said, ‘I have killed the American.’”

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