Meese Doesn’t Bar Kidnaping of Terrorists

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III refused Wednesday to rule out kidnaping as a means of bringing terrorists to justice, saying the circumstances of a case would determine whether abduction would be used.

Meese, at a news conference in conjunction with the summer meeting here of the American Bar Assn., declined to link his remarks on kidnaping to any retaliatory moves being considered in last month’s hijacking to Beirut of TWA Flight 847 by Shia Muslim extremists. He said that “we are pursuing a number of legal avenues” in connection with the hijacking.

The kidnaping question arose because the United States and Lebanon have no extradition treaty, although both have signed an international agreement that forbids the unlawful seizure of planes.

“In general, we do not intend to, or desire to, disobey the laws of any country, including our own,” Meese said. A decision on whether to engage in kidnaping “would depend a great deal upon a number of circumstances that might be specific to a particular case . . . whether there was a law against kidnaping in a country that was involved,” he said.

‘Not Commenting’

Asked if he meant to flatly rule out the possibility in response to the Beirut hostage crisis of any “extra-legal action” in the future, Meese said: “In regard to the TWA hijacking case, I am not commenting on anything.”

Among the legal avenues the United States is pursuing in the case, other Justice Department sources said, is a plan to convene a federal grand jury to seek an indictment of the two terrorists who killed a Navy diver on the TWA jet, as well as other terrorists involved in the hijacking.

After the news conference, Meese was asked if he meant to leave the impression that the Reagan Administration may use kidnaping as a device to deal with terrorism in general.

“I don’t want to leave you with the impression that we will, and I don’t want to leave you with the impression that we won’t,” Meese said. “I want to leave you with the impression that that is not a subject on which I have commented either affirmatively or negatively.”