Ziad Abu-Eian, a young Palestinian accused of planting a bomb that killed two persons and injured 36 in Tiberias in 1979, went on trial in Tel Aviv district court today. He is the first person ever extradited by the United States to stand trial in Israel.
Abu-Eian had been living with relatives in Chicago and the two-year legal battle which culminated in his extradition earlier this year focused international attention on the case. In the courtroom today were representatives of the U.S. State Department, the International Federation of Jurists and the International Red Cross. Also present was former U.S. Attorney General Ramsay Clark who has frequently championed the cause of persons accused of terrorist or subversive activities.
The prosecution ran into difficulty with its first witness, Jamal Yassin, head of the terrorist cell that planned the bombing. Yassin, presently serving a prison term, claimed today that he had lied when he implicated Abu-Eian. He said he did so only because the accused had fled to Jordan and was presumably safe from Israel and because blaming him for the bombing diverted attention from others. The State declared Yassin to be a hostile witness.
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