U.S. Clamps Lid on Terrorist Link Arrests

Federal authorities maintained a blackout Tuesday on the detention of seven foreign nationals suspected of links with a radical Palestinian terrorist organization.

An Arab-American organization decried the detention as an attempt by the Reagan Administration to mask its “powerlessness” to prevent the kidnaping of Americans in Lebanon.

“We are stunned and angered by the arrests,” said Jim Zogby, director of the Arab American Institute, in a statement issued in Washington.

“I can’t fail to note the timing of the arrests and the terror-baiting that surrounds them,” Zogby said. “The timing and the manner seem directly tied to the powerlessness the Administration feels over the fact Americans have been taken hostage in Beirut. This appears to be their crude response.”

Zogby’s organization describes itself as a planning and organizing center of Arab-American electoral activity and spokesman on Arab-American civil rights issues.

The FBI said eight Jordanians and a Kenyan were arrested in the Los Angeles area without incident Monday and will be subject to deportation proceedings for allegedly violating U.S. immigration laws. Although nine were taken into custody, only seven were brought into U.S. Immigration Court on Monday. Neither the FBI nor INS would comment on the whereabouts of the other two detainees.

The bureau, in its statement Monday, also indicated its investigation reflected security concerns.

“These apprehensions resulted from an extensive investigation of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” an FBI statement said, adding that one Jordanian in custody, Khader Musa Hamide, 32, was the leader of the group in California.

Led by Dr. George Habash, the organization gained world attention in a series of spectacular hijackings in the 1970s, including the 1976 hijacking of an Air France airliner that landed at Uganda’s Entebbe airport. Israeli commandos stormed the airport waiting room, killing seven hijackers and rescuing 103 passengers.

One FBI source said the investigation began in March after U.S. bombing raids on Libya, when the Syria-based Habash vowed reprisal attacks against U.S. citizens around the world, including targets inside the United States.

Monday’s FBI statement said the nine foreign nationals were picked up by FBI agents acting in conjunction with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Both agencies Tuesday refused to answer questions about the incident, including whether the nine were believed linked with a terrorist plot.

Besides Hamide and the Kenyan, Julie Nyangugi Mungai, 28, the seven others arrested were Aiad Khaled Barakat, 26; Ghabah Hawwari, 24; Haitham Hawari, 19; Ayman Mustafa Obeid, 22; Amjad Mustafa Obeid, 33; Michel Ibrahim Nasif Shehadeh, 30, and Naim Nadim Sharif, 26.