Palestinian Authority officials on Wednesday called on the United States to immediately free Mohamed Abbas, chief of the Palestinian Liberation Front who led the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and was arrested late Monday by U.S. forces outside Baghdad. The Italians, meanwhile, asked for his extradition. The Achille Lauro was an Italian ship and Abbas was convicted in absentia for his role in its hijacking that killed a Jewish-American man. Palestinian Authority Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told reporters that arresting the PLF leader, often called Abu el-Abbas or Abu Abbas, in Iraq was “a violation of the peace accords signed in Washington between Israel and the Palestinians in 1995.” “The Palestinian leadership demands that the United States administration release as soon as possible Abu el-Abbas, because the U.S. doesn’t have the right to arrest and detain him,” he said. The Achille Lauro hijacking is remembered for the killing of wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, 69, who was vacationing with his wife, Lisa. After separating the Jewish passengers and issuing a demand for the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners, the four PLF militants aboard shot Klinghoffer and pushed him overboard. Full Story
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