‘Did Not Kill Anyone,’ Hijack Suspects Say; Blame 22 Karachi Deaths on Troops

Five men on trial for hijacking a Pan American World Airways airliner in Karachi last September claim that the 22 passengers who died in the incident were killed by Pakistani army commandos, their attorney said Monday.

“Their case is that they did not kill anyone,” said Abdul Baseer Quereshi, a Pakistani civil rights attorney in charge of the defense. “Some of them will accept the hijacking but say they did it for the noble purpose of liberating their country (Palestine) from Israel.”

Four of the men, Palestinians Mustafa Bomer, 22; Fahd Jassin, 18; Khalil Kiwan, 21, and Mansoor Rashid, 21, are charged with seizing the jumbo jet at Karachi International Airport on Sept. 5, 1986, and opening fire with automatic weapons and grenades in panic after holding nearly 400 passengers and crew members hostage for 16 hours.

Survivors Interviewed

Dozens of surviving passengers interviewed later said the hijackers began firing and throwing hand grenades after the lights on the aircraft dimmed inexplicably. They said Pakistani army commandos were nowhere near the aircraft when the shooting began.

“They were shouting,” Dick Melhart, 44, of Pullman, Wash., said at the time. “After 10 minutes, they just opened fire. They started with two hand grenades. Then, in the back of the plane, two guys with machine guns opened up.” Two Americans were among those killed.

The fifth defendant, Salman Turki, 32, who claims to be a Palestinian but who carried a Libyan passport when he was arrested a week after the hijacking, is accused of organizing and directing the hijacking.

All five men pleaded not guilty to charges of hijacking, murder, attempted murder and abetting a crime. The punishment for hijacking is death by hanging.

Testimony began Monday in a makeshift courtroom in the maximum security Rawalpindi Central Jail. Prosecuting attorney Mian Aftab Farruqh said he is prepared to present 80 witnesses in the trial.

Defendant Turki told reporters Monday that during the course of the trial, he will reveal “many things that will surprise the world as well as the government of Pakistan.”

He and other defendants indicated they will appeal to the majority Muslim population of Pakistan to support their cause against Israel and the United States.

The Rawalpindi jail, on an isolated desert stretch six miles outside the city of Rawalpindi in Pakistan’s Punjab state, is surrounded by 16-foot walls topped by six strands of electrified wire, each charged with 11,000 volts.

In addition to the normal jail security precautions, special army units were encamped around the building and military helicopters circled the area. All five defendants were handcuffed in the courtroom.

Tightened Security

The U.S. Embassy compound and other U.S. government buildings in the nearby Pakistani capital of Islamabad also showed tightened security, although officials said it was not because of any specific threat related to the trial. Since the escalation of the U.S. presence in the Persian Gulf, United States missions in nearby countries have been under intensified security.

During a recess, the defendants in the hijacking trial smoked cigarettes and joked with attorneys in a room next to the courtroom--an inmate movie theater complete with red velvet curtain and stage, converted for the purpose. They were allowed to meet briefly with reporters for the first time since the hijacking.

Although all defendants demonstrated some knowledge of English, the eldest, Turki, acted as their spokesman.

“We are freedom fighters,” he said. “We did not commit any crime. We are Palestinians. We think we have the right to go to Pakistan and fight America, to fight imperialism.”

Turki said the men were members of an organization named “Palestine Revolution.” He denied reports that they were attached to a terrorist group headed by Abu Nidal. However, he said the men respect Nidal, as well as Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi and Iran’s leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Praise for Abu Nidal

“If we have a chance to get out of this place,” said Turki, a short, animated man with a long, untrimmed beard, “we hope to go over to Abu Nidal because we think he is a good man.”

He claimed that he and the other defendants had been kept in solitary confinement for most of the year since their arrest and that they were tortured by Pakistan intelligence agents in Karachi.

“They tried to kill our love and feeling for Palestine,” Turki said.

During their subsequent incarceration in the 1,852-inmate Rawalpindi jail, the men conducted a 37-day hunger strike protesting conditions and demanding radios, newspapers and the removal of shackles in their jail cells.

They ended their hunger strike after District Judge Sayed Mohammed Zafar Babar appointed Quereshi and two other lawyers as a defense team.

The trial proceeded slowly Monday, with only three prosecution witnesses. One was a chamber maid in a hotel where defendant Bomer stayed in Karachi, and another was a relative of the chamber maid. They testified about how the men allegedly obtained a truck that they disguised as a security vehicle and drove unimpeded through a guarded gate onto the tarmac of the Karachi airport.