4 Palestinians Isolated From Others in Heavily Secured Sicilian Prison

SYRACUSE, Sicily — The four Palestinians accused of hijacking the Achille Lauro cruise ship are being held in isolation in a heavily secured 19th-Century Italian prison.

Prison director Carmello Gulli would not say whether the men are being held together or in separate cells but said he is not aware of any plans to transfer them to another jail.

“They are in good condition, they are isolated from other prisoners and their behavior is normal,” Gulli said Sunday in a telephone interview.

The men arrived in the sandstone, baroque-style building on Saturday from Sigonella air base, 43 miles north of Syracuse in eastern Sicily.

Sunday night, for the second night, army trucks with spotlights arrived at dusk to illuminate the prison.

Several police cars were parked outside the structure, a former convent standing about 50 yards from Syracuse harbor. About 20 policemen, some in bulletproof vests, were stationed around the building.

Also on Sunday, police erected a metal barricade and towed cars away from the area.

Asked whether he believes that his prison, a run-down building, is secure enough to hold the hijackers, Gulli said, “It is an old prison, with all the problems of an old building.”

But he added: “For me the security of the prison is not determined so much by the state of the building as by the ability of the personnel.”

Gulli said the attitude and behavior of the men is “normal for prisoners in the first days of imprisonment, perhaps aggravated by the fact that they do not speak the language.” They are eating regularly, he added.

He said they had not been interrogated by magistrates Sunday and he did not know if they will be questioned today.

Gulli said the notoriety of the prisoners has put a strain on his personnel.

“None of us can be content because this has involved an incredible amount of extra work. But everything is under control,” he said.

Because the four suspects apparently used false or stolen passports to board the ship, investigators say their identities have not been legally determined.

Egyptian authorities initially identified them as Alaa Abdullah Kheshen, 19; Majid Youssef Malaki, 23; Mahmoud Ali Abdullah, 23, and Abdel Latif Ibrahim Fatayer, 20.