In a draft treaty released last night, the International Civil Aviation Organization’s legal committee asked the 119 members of the United Nations agency to declare plane hijacking a punishable offense requiring extradition of the hijackers to the country where the crime was perpetrated or, where extradition is refused, prosecution in the county where the hijackers are held. A diplomatic conference will be convened in The Hague in December to establish the treaty as an international agreement. The treaty leaves the nature of the penalties to the member nations, but stipulates they should be “severe.” If a member state were to grant a hijacker political asylum, all procedures would be null.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.