The jury in the Achille Lauro hijack trial began its deliberations at a secret location Monday and is expected to return a verdict on Wednesday or Thursday.
Under Italian law the verdict will be decided jointly by the six jurors — three men and three women — and two magistrates, Judge Lino Monteverde, who presided at the trial, and Associate Judge Vincenzo Giacalone.
They will determine the fate of the 15 defendants 10 of them tried in absentia — accused of hijacking the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro last October 7-9 and the murder of a passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, an American Jew.
CALLS FOR LIFE IMPRISONMENT
State Prosecutor Luigi Carli has asked for life imprisonment for seven of the defendants, the maximum sentence allowed by Italian law. These include the Palestinian terrorist leader Mohammed Abu Abbas, alleged mastermind of the hijack who is at large, and Magied Al Mulqi, a 23-year-old Palestinian accused of shooting Klinghoffer and ordering crew members to dump his body into the sea. Mulqi is one of the five in custody.
Before the court retired Monday morning, the defendants appealed to “the Italian Republic, Italian justice and the Italian people” to clear them of all charges because ” we are just fighters, not criminals.” Mulqi thanked Italy “for not turning us over to the Americans and for allowing Abu Abbas to leave Italy.”
Abu Abbas heads a terrorist group known as the Palestine Liberation Front and is a member of the executive of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He was taken into custody October 12 when U.S. Air Force planes forced an Egyptian airliner carrying him from the scene of the hijack to land in Sicily.
But he and his military aide, Ozzudin Badratkan, were released and allowed to leave Italy despite American objections. The Italian authorities explained later that they did not have sufficient evidence at the time to hold the two.
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