U.S. Drops Subversion Counts Against 6 of 8 Accused in PLO Case

In a surprise maneuver, the federal government on Thursday dropped subversion charges against six of eight Los Angeles-area immigrants accused of belonging to a Marxist faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, even though a top government attorney said all eight remained “security risks” to the United States.

William B. Odencrantz, regional counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said that the government still wants all eight deported because their presence in this country is “prejudicial to the national interest,” no matter what the charges are against them.

Officials said they will drop charges that six of the defendants fostered world communism through membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The six will still have to appear in Immigration Court Tuesday on charges that could lead to their deportation for overstaying student and temporary visas and not notifying the INS of a school transfer.

Additional Action

Officials said two other defendants, alleged by the government to be the California ringleaders of the faction, will face additional charges under the McCarran-Walter Act for allegedly participating in PFLP activities, such as the distribution of the faction’s literature. A hearing date for the two has not yet been set.

Defense attorneys called the INS decision a partial victory and lashed out at the government’s “malicious” legal tactics. The government’s decision was disclosed by INS District Counsel Elizabeth Hacker during a one-hour, closed-door conference before U.S. Immigration Judge Ingrid K. Hrycenko.

All eight--seven Jordanians and a Kenyan--were arrested last Jan. 26, some at gunpoint, after a three-year FBI investigation. The eight were described by government attorneys as national security risks. They were then imprisoned for more than two weeks in the federal prison at Terminal Island before being released over bitter government objections at a Feb. 17 bond hearing.

Behind the government’s decision to drop the charges, Odencrantz said in a telephone interview from his San Francisco office, was an effort to avoid tying up an immigration courtroom for a month or more. In addition, he said officials were concerned that a defense motion challenging the constitutionality of the McCarran-Walter law--scheduled to be heard Monday in U.S. District Court here--will prolong and complicate the case.

“We ran it by some of the best lawyers in our organization,” he said. “It just made overwhelming sense.”

“It’s venal,” said Dan Stormer, the lead defense counsel. “They spent 2 1/2 weeks in solitary confinement and then they drop the charges. It’s crazy. . . . It’s not a victory until all the charges are dropped.”

Stormer, appearing with defense attorneys Marc Van Der Hout and Mark Rosenbaum, charged during an impromptu news conference that “the government realized it cannot meet its (evidence) burden but is still trying to silence discussions in the Palestinian community.”

This was a reference to the defense’s long-standing charge that the case was being orchestrated by the Reagan Administration to silence those in the Arab community who oppose Reagan Administration policies in the Middle East. All the defendants have denied belonging to the PFLP.

‘National Interest’

“These eight are the same as they always were--they’re PFLP (whose presence) in the United States is prejudicial to the national interest,” Odencrantz said. “They have the same potential to do (violence) in the United States as they do in any other country of the world. Do we wait for people to blow up the Federal Building?”

In response to a reporter’s question, Odencrantz noted that there was “a lot of national interest” in the case but denied that the government backed down in the face of nationwide protests in the Arab community.

In fact, he said, the INS still wants to see the eight immigrants sent back to jail. This, he added, was why the government will continue to appeal an immigration judge’s decision to allow the defendants to remain free.

Still facing subversion charges, with apparently more to be added, are Khader Musa Hamide, 33, of Glendale, a 16-year permanent resident of the United States and alleged by the government to be the PFLP leader in California, and Michel Ibrahim Shehadeh, 30, of Long Beach, a 12-year permanent resident of the country, alleged to be the Los Angeles-area PFLP leader.

The other six defendant are: Julie Nyanguigu Mungai, 29, of Kenya, Hamide’s wife; Aiad Khaled Barakat, 26, Glendale; Bashar Amer, 24, Alta Loma; Amjad Mustafa Obeid, 23, Long Beach; his brother, Ayman, 24, also of Long Beach, and Naim Nadim Sharif, 28, Northridge.