Hijackers May Have Softened Their Demands

Hijackers holding 31 hostages on a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet for the 11th day again threatened to kill the passengers today but there were signs they might have softened their demands.

The hijackers have demanded Kuwait release 17 Shia prisoners since the hijacking began April 5. But state-run Algiers Radio and a Kuwaiti newspaper reported that the eight Muslim fundamentalist hijackers told Algerian authorities they would free their captives if two Lebanese men among the 17 Shias were released.

But the newspaper quoted sources as saying Kuwait rejected the scaled-down demand. Al Qabas also reported a delegation representing the hijackers had arrived in Algiers from either Tehran or Beirut to negotiate with the Algerian authorities on the ground and “direct the hijack operation.”

Messages Read

This afternoon, the hijackers radioed the control tower and two hostages read identical messages apparently written by the hijackers:

“We pray God that the Kuwaiti authorities release the 17 persons who are held in the Kuwaiti prison,” said Suleiman Mohamed Mashed and Mohamed Ajmi, their voices cracking with emotion. “They are determined to kill us if you don’t.”

The pleas closely resembled a similar plea another hostage, Zayed Ahmad, made Thursday.

Algerian negotiators, evidently encouraged by the release Thursday night of one hostage (Story, Page 6), patiently pursued talks with the hijackers and a Kuwaiti official delegation.

Hostage Beaten

The released hostage said he was beaten frequently and told officials of atrocious conditions aboard the hijacked airliner.

Jamal Abdallah Shatih, a 55-year-old Kuwaiti, told officials after his release Thursday that the center doors of the plane were wired with explosives and said hostages were beaten if they violated a rule of absolute silence.

Shatih told officials one of three Kuwaiti royal family members being held captive, Fadhel al Sabah, 33, is in bad physical and mental condition. Shatih said the prince had apparently suffered a nervous breakdown. At one point, Fadhel was brought to the cockpit and told by the hijackers to speak to negotiators on the radio but was unable to do so.

Fadhel shook nervously and wept constantly, Shatih said.