The New York Times · 12 July 1986

CP-1986-021

Hijacking Verdicts Appealed

By ROBERTO SURO

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Transcribed from the clipping

GENOA, Italy, July 11 — The public prosecutor’s office filed an appeal today of the verdicts and sentences in the Achille Lauro hijacking case, arguing that some of the jail terms ordered by a jury here should be more severe.

After a three-week trial, the jury condemned a fugitive Palestinian, Mohammed Abbas, and two of his deputies to life in jail in the hijacking, but rejected prosecution demands for life sentences for four others, including the confessed killer of Leon Klinghoffer, an American tourist aboard the ship.

The appeal process is likely to feed a public controversy that is developing over several of the jury’s decisions. In Rome today, the small but influential Republican Party protested what it called the jury’s “indulgence” toward the hijackers and its “contradictory” findings on important anti-terrorism laws.

Other commentators defended the jury decision against criticism. The state’s appeal will seek a reversal of the jury’s decision to issue reduced sentences for several defendants on the basis of extenuating circumstances, said the deputy chief prosecutor, Luigi Francesco Meloni.

Among those shown leniency was Magid al-Molqi, who, in a signed confession that he later disavowed, admitted killing Mr. Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old New Yorker who used a wheelchair. Mr. Molqi received a 30-year sentence. Mr. Meloni said, “We do not believe Molqi deserved a lesser sentence given the reprehensible, wicked nature of his crime.”

Judge Lino Monteverde told reporters Thursday that the “tragic conditions” the hijackers grew up in as Palestinians was an important factor in the decision to issue lighter sentences. Altogether six defendants — three hijackers, Mr.

Abbas and his two deputies — were found guilty of terrorist kidnapping with the resulting death of a victim, a crime that carries a potential life sentence. Under Italian law, the charge is distinct from a simple criminal homicide accusation, and is considered more serious because it is a crime against against the state. Conviction is in effect for political murder.

Five defendants were found guilty of lesser crimes, and four were acquitted on all charges. Judge Monteverde said the jury decided to give the heaviest sentences to Mr. Abbas and his two deputies in the Palestine Liberation Front because they conceived the October hijacking and directed it. The verdict involved 15 defendants.

Five are in custody; the three who received life sentences are all fugitives. Mr. Molqi and his three co-defendants — a fourth is to be tried separately as a minor — were arrested in Sicily on Oct. 10 after an Egyptair jet carrying them from Cairo was forced to land by United States Navy planes. Mr.

Abbas, who was also aboard the jet, was later freed; an international arrest warrant was issued for him later, after the Genoa magistrates decided that he was mastermind of the operation.

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