Homeland Security

DATE=4/16/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CQ ITALY/ABBAS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-302268

BYLINE=SABINA CASTELFRANCO

DATELINE=ROME

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///// NEW INTRO, FIXES TO 1986 IN TEXT GRAF 4 OF CR2-302265. /////

INTRO: Justice authorities in Italy said Wednesday that the Rome government will request the extradition of Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Abbas now that he has been captured. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome.

TEXT: Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli said a request will be made to extradite the Palestinian guerrilla leader, who has been captured by U-S special operations forces in Iraq.

Italy wants to bring Abu Abbas to justice for the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, in which an elderly and disabled American passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown overboard. At the time, the hijackers had demanded that Israel release 50 Palestinians prisoners.

The hijacking ended after negotiations that were helped by Egypt, but Abbas slipped out of the country after Italian authorities failed to detain him on grounds that there was insufficient evidence.

Two-weeks later, Italian magistrates filed charges against Abbas. The Palestinian was tried in absentia in Italy in 1986 and sentenced to five life terms for planning the hijacking in the Mediterranean.

The justice minister said Italy now needs to clarify legally to whom it must address the extradition request. Abbas was captured in Baghdad, but is being held by U-S forces there.

Mr. Castelli said requests for the extradition of Abbas had been made in recent months to Egypt and Jordan.

The deputy speaker of Italy's lower house of parliament, Alfredo Biondi, said Abbas must pay for his crime in Italy. He also said the capture of Abbas in Baghdad is clear evidence that Iraq was harboring and giving refuge to terrorists. (SIGNED)

NEB/SC/ALW/RAE