Planner of 1985 Achille Lauro Hijacking Seized

ATHENS —  Greek police officers said Monday that they are holding a Palestinian convicted and sentenced in absentia for planning the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in which wheelchair-bound American tourist Leon Klinghoffer was murdered and dumped overboard.

Palestinian Abdul Rahim Khalid, 50, was arrested March 5 along with Petros Floros and two other Greeks after a bomb was found in Floros’ Athens house. Police said they had planned to use the bomb against a branch of Barclays Bank.

There was no immediate explanation why authorities waited two weeks to announce the arrests.

Khalid, described as a top lieutenant of Palestinian guerrilla leader Abul Abbas, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by a Genoa court in 1987. The Achille Lauro was hijacked in October, 1985.

Police said Italian authorities have asked Greece to extradite Khalid.

Asked whether the United States would like to see Khalid extradited to Italy, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters in Washington: “We would like to see the rule of law applied against terrorists.”

A senior Greek police official told the Reuters news agency that “we believe Khalid used Floros’ passport in the fatal trip of the Achille Lauro but disembarked in the port of Alexandria before the guerrillas seized the vessel.”

Floros, 52, was tried in Italy in 1986 for giving his passport to the hijackers but was acquitted for lack of evidence.

A four-man guerrilla team seized the ship and held its passengers and crew hostage for three days off the coast of Egypt before giving up. They are serving long prison sentences in Italy.

Abbas and two lieutenants also received life sentences after being tried in absentia for planning the hijacking.