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Italy 'wants to extradite Abbas'
ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Italy wants to extradite a convicted Palestinian terrorist captured by U.S. forces in Baghdad, the country's justice minister said on Wednesday. Roberto Castelli said Italy would seek the extradition of Abu Abbas, who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, once legal questions were cleared up. The hijackers killed a disabled elderly American Jewish passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, shooting him and pushing him and his wheelchair over the side of the ship. Abbas, whose real first name is Mohammed, was sentenced in absentia in Italy to life in prison in 1986 for planning the operation in the eastern Mediterranean, but he never served any time. Abbas is general director of the Palestine Liberation Front, which the U.S. State Department has designated a terrorist organization. After the hijacking he lived in Tunisia, Libya and Gaza. Since 1994 he has resided in Baghdad, where he was under the protection of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. (Abbas profile) Castelli said the Italian government had tried on several occasions to extradite Abbas, most recently from Egypt and Jordan when Rome thought he might have been in those countries. Castelli said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini would make the request, using Abbas' conviction and life sentence to argue for the extradition. "We right now we have a very complicated judicial situation because he was captured in Iraqi territory but is in American hands," Castelli said. "We need to solve this dilemma and then eventually we will ask extradition from the American authorities." Frattini stressed Wednesday that the arrest once again links former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to terrorism, as the United States has long claimed. U.S. officials said Special Forces troops captured Abbas Monday night at a compound on the outskirts of Baghdad. The capture was made possible by information from U.S. intelligence, the officials said, adding that several other people also were apprehended at the compound. Various documents and passports were also seized. The immediate fate of Abbas remained unclear on Wednesday. U.S. officials declined to say if he would be held in Iraq, taken to a third country or detained at a U.S. base. They also would not say whether he would face charges in the United States. Klinghoffer's daughters said they were "delighted that the murderous terrorist Abu Abbas is in U.S. custody." "While we personally seek justice for our father's murder, the larger issue is terrorism. Bringing Abbas to justice will send a strong signal to terrorists anywhere in the world that there is no place to run, no place to hide." The daughters, Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer, added: "We hope the U.S. prosecutors will be able to revive a federal indictment against Abbas for piracy, hostage-taking and conspiracy, and we urge them to do so." A senior U.S. administration official said Abbas' capture sends a strong message to terrorists: "You can run, but you cannot hide." To other terrorists, he warned, "We will hold you to account." However, Palestinian Cabinet member Saeb Erakat said Wednesday the United States violated the Oslo peace accords when it seized Abbas. Erakat pointed to the Israeli-Palestinian interim agreement that was signed by the United States, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the European Union, Russia, Jordan, Egypt and Norway. The agreement specified that no member of the Palestine Liberation Organization would be arrested or brought to court for any action that happened prior to September 13, 1993, the day the Oslo accord was signed, Erakat said. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, deputy director of operations for the U.S. Central Command, said he had "no knowledge" of any agreements, saying Abbas "is part of that terrorist network" U.S. forces were ordered to remove. "He was a terrorist, he remains a terrorist and he will be viewed as such," he said. "Notwithstanding any declarations that have been made in recent years, his links to terrorism remain abundantly clear." The Achille Lauro hijacking ordeal came to an end after two days, when four heavily armed terrorists and Abbas, who helped with negotiations, surrendered to Egyptian authorities in exchange for a promise of safe passage. As an Egyptian airliner was flying them to safe haven in Tunisia, U.S. Navy fighter jets forced the plane to land at a NATO air base in Italy, where they were arrested. Abbas was soon released by the Italians.
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