Mubarak Accuses U.S. of ‘Act of Piracy’ : Will Strain Relations for ‘Long Time to Come,’ Egypt Leader Says

President Hosni Mubarak, confronted by domestic criticism and violent anti-American protests, said Saturday that the U.S. interception of an Egyptian airliner carrying the hijackers of the Achille Lauro out of this country was “an act of piracy” that will strain U.S.-Egyptian relations for “a long time to come.”

Mubarak’s emotional remarks, which followed a day of clashes here between police and student demonstrators chanting anti-American, anti-Israeli and anti-Mubarak slogans, were the harshest words that the president has used against the United States since assuming office four years ago.

Asked about the incident in which U.S. Navy F-14s intercepted the EgyptAir plane and forced it to land in Sicily, Mubarak told reporters at an impromptu news conference that the United States had committed a “very serious act unheard of under any international law or code.”

Upon first learning that the plane had been intercepted, Mubarak said that he wondered “which country would commit an act of piracy in this way?” Later, upon learning it was the United States, Mubarak said that he was “shocked (because) we had not expected this attack from a friend. . . . The United States should never have done this, with all the friendship that exists between us. It is very sad and I am very wounded.”

The president, who was denounced by stone-throwing students earlier in the day as a “coward” and a “U.S. agent,” said the incident had also wounded Egypt’s pride and predicted that U.S.-Egyptian relations “will be cool and strained . . . for a long time to come.” However, he appealed to student demonstrators “to be wise and remain calm.”

Western diplomats, describing Mubarak’s remarks as “very strong” and “impassioned,” said they reflected both his “anger and humiliation” over the incident and his need to deflect mounting criticism, at home and within the Arab world, of his close alliance with the United States.

“This whole affair has been terrible for Mubarak. . . . Egyptians feel humiliated and they feel Mubarak made a big mistake,” a senior Western European diplomat said. “It has seriously weakened both Egypt’s position in the Arab world and Mubarak’s position at home.”

While agreeing with this assessment, several other senior diplomats here said that they were stunned by the severity of Mubarak’s remarks, especially by his use of words such as piracy and attack when speaking about the United States, Egypt’s closest Western ally and its chief supplier of economic and military aid. Cairo will receive $2.5 billion in assistance from Washington this year.

Only hours earlier, U.S. officials in Cairo had expressed the belief that Egypt was eager to put the airplane incident behind it and “resume normal relations” with the United States. They cited, as evidence of this, the relatively muted criticism of the United States so far in the Egyptian press and a surprisingly mild statement issued Friday by the Foreign Ministry.

However, Mubarak, who spoke to reporters after a meeting with visiting Sudanese Prime Minister Dafallah Gazouli, said that, although Egypt and the United States are friends, “we will not be able to overlook this incident.” He added that it will take “time and effort by the United States” to mend the rift and suggested that joint military maneuvers with the United States scheduled in December could be canceled if no such effort is forthcoming.

‘Some Concession’ Expected

Foreign Ministry officials said that Mubarak now expects and needs “some concession” from the United States, such as the dispatch of a special envoy or a personal message from President Reagan, to enable him to normalize relations with the United States.

Concurring, a senior Western diplomat said that such a “face-saving” gesture is necessary because Mubarak was “insulted and humiliated” by U.S. suggestions that he lied about the hijackers’ whereabouts and caved in to terrorism by permitting them to leave Egypt in the company of two senior members of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The issue of veracity arose after it became apparent that the hijackers were still in Egyptian custody long after Mubarak said that they had left Egypt for Tunisia, where the PLO has its headquarters.

Denying responsibility for the hijacking, which he called an attempt to “discredit” his organization, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat had asked Egypt to place the terrorists in his custody for “trial and punishment” by a PLO “tribunal.”

Dispute Over Timing

Speaking to reporters at midday Thursday, Mubarak said the hijackers were turned over to the PLO and flown out of Egypt aboard a civilian airliner Wednesday night, before it was known that Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old invalid from New York City, had been shot by the hijackers and thrown overboard. He said Egypt would not have allowed the terrorists to leave had it known about Klinghoffer’s murder.

However, as PLO officials in Tunis insisted and angry U.S. officials later confirmed, the hijackers did not actually leave Egypt until late Thursday evening, long after news of Klinghoffer’s death became known.

Originally bound for Tunis, the plane changed directions after Tunisian officials said that they would not allow it to land. It is still not clear whether it was headed back to Egypt or to a third country when U.S. F-14 jets, acting on orders from President Reagan, intercepted it and forced it to land in Sicily, where the terrorists were arrested by Italian authorities.

Questioned later about this discrepancy, Mubarak admitted that the terrorists’ departure had been delayed for “technical, administrative and political reasons” but said he himself did not learn of the delay until several hours later, after his Thursday remarks to reporters.

He also defended the decision to turn over the terrorists to the PLO for trial, saying that “would have been much better than trying them in Italy or the United States” because of the likelihood that any country which has them will become the target for terrorist reprisal attacks.

‘Not a Heroic Act’

“This (interception) was not a heroic act. The real heroic act was (Egypt’s) saving the lives of 400 people” held hostage on the Achille Lauro, Mubarak said.

According to Egyptian officials, an even more important justification for turning the hijackers over to the PL0 was the need to salvage what remains of current Middle East peace prospects following Israel’s air strike against Arafat’s Tunis headquarters Oct.1.

Egypt and Jordan have been trying to initiate a dialogue between the United States and the PLO as a first step toward negotiations with Israel, and officials said it was important to allow Arafat to show that he did not sanction the hijacking by giving him an opportunity to punish the hijackers himself.

By intercepting the plane, which also carried two of Arafat’s top aides, the United States has made it more difficult for the PLO leader to remain committed to negotiations with Washington, the officials said.

University Demonstrations

The interception of the Egyptian plane and the triumphant manner in which it was announced by the Reagan Administration also added to Egypt’s shame and touched off violent anti-American demonstrations Saturday at Cairo University, where about 500 students burned U.S. and Israeli flags and demanded that both the Israeli and U.S. ambassadors to Egypt be expelled.

When the protesters, most of whom were reported to be members of leftist or Muslim fundamentalist student organizations, tried to march from the campus shouting anti-Mubarak slogans, riot police blocked their way. The students began hurling stones at the police who responded with tear gas and baton charges, witnesses said. About 20 people were detained, they added.