5 Palestinians Sentenced to Death for ’86 Pakistan Hijacking That Killed 22

Five Palestinians were convicted and sentenced to death Wednesday in the 1986 hijacking of a Pan Am jetliner that left 22 people dead, including two Indian-Americans from California, a local government official said.

Judge Mohammed Zafar Barbar sentenced the defendants in a makeshift courtroom in a prison in this town 30 miles west of Islamabad. He blamed lax airport security in part for the hijacking, in which four of the Palestinians entered the plane dressed as security guards.

The Boeing 747, on a stopover between Bombay, India, and New York, was seized on the ground Sept. 5, 1986, in Pakistan’s southern port of Karachi with 384 people aboard, including 44 Americans.

One of the Americans, Rajesh Kumar, 29, of Huntington Beach, who had become a naturalized U.S. citizen a few weeks earlier, was shot to death early in the hijacking. His body was dropped onto the tarmac.

Sprayed Bullets in Cabin

The plane sat on the ground for 17 hours before the Palestinians, fearing an attack when an on-board generator ran out of fuel and the lights dimmed, sprayed the cabin with bullets and Pakistani troops stormed the plane. Among those killed in the shooting was Surendra Manubhal Patel, 50, of Fullerton, a naturalized American.

The defendants contended they were innocent in the murders and blamed Pakistani commandos for the killings. More than 125 others were injured.

“We don’t care about the sentence,” said Mohammed Hafiz Turk, 32, the only one of the five who was not on the hijacked plane. He was sentenced to hang for his part in planning the hijacking. “We care only about the millions of Arabs and Islamic countries.”

Pan Am was targeted because it is a U.S. carrier, he said.

The other four--Mohammed Ahmed Munawar, Khalil Hussain Rahayyal and Saeed Abdul Rahim of Lebanon, and Abdul Latif Sairfani of Syria--were sentenced to hang for their role in the hijacking. The four men range in age from 18 to 24.

U.S. Welcomes Convictions

In Washington, the State Department welcomed the convictions.

“The Pakistan court decision is an important action in bringing the rule of law to bear against terrorists,” said a statement read by spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley.

The five said they will appeal their convictions and sentences within the 30-day deadline.

Calls Security Lax

During sentencing, Judge Barbar said that “security (at the airport) seemed to be extremely lax.” The judge questioned how the four men dressed as security guards could board the Pan Am flight weighed down with weapons and ammunition.