Sabena Hijack Verdict Monday

After hearing the summations of both the prosecution and defense, the military tribunal trying Rima Tannous and Therese Khalsa on charges of participation in the hijacking of a Sabena jet in May announced that it would hand down its verdict on Monday.

This morning’s proceedings at the Sarafand court-room opened with the defense summation. Miss Tannous’ attorney, Eliezer Karni, asked the tribunal to acquit his client because she could not be held responsible for the acts with which she is charged. He recalled her “miserable childhood” and claimed that whatever she had done was under duress.

Miss Khalsa’s lawyer, Yaacob Henignam, also requested the dismissal of the case against his client. He maintained that Miss Khalsa was a prisoner of the terrorists, that “they looked for a person like her…a Hebrew-speaking girl to carry out the hijacking plan and they found her easy to influence.”

The prosecution, in its summation, asked the tribunal to find the two women guilty on all four charges: participation in a group that committed offenses concerned with weapons, and offensive charges, bearing weapons and explosives, planting a bomb, and membership in an illegal organization.

Countering the defense’s claim that the women committed the crime under pressure, the prosecutor, Lt. Col. David Israeli, said that it was inconceivable that a terrorist organization would carry out a hijacking with two women who were acting under pressure. He said that such daring actions require the best trained, devoted and safe personalities available. He also claimed that in their first interrogation by the police, the women had admitted being members of illegal organizations, and that this admission was not obtained under pressure.