Hijack Suspect Identified at Trial by Witnesses, Tape

As part of the case on which the United States is modeling its counterterrorism policy, prosecutors presented eyewitness identifications and a dramatic videotape Monday to show there was little doubt that Fawaz Younis of Lebanon helped hijack Royal Jordanian Flight 402 on June 11, 1985.

In news tapes of the 30-hour hijacking’s final stop in Beirut, Younis, a Lebanese Shiite, emerges from the plane and reads his militia’s demands that all Palestinians be forced to leave Lebanon. After the passengers and crew disembark, the plane is blown up.

Two witnesses--a father and his then-teen-age son who were the only Americans aboard the jet--also identified Younis as the hijacker who called himself “Nazeeh” and who led the heavily armed five-man hijacking team.

Prosecutor Raises Questions

But the testimony of Landry T. Slade, formerly an American University of Beirut professor, was challenged by Francis D. Carter, Younis’ court-appointed counsel, who outlined the defense of his client and raised questions about the soundness of the prosecution case.

Besides being a model for American counterterrorism policy, the case also is considered a test for 1984 and 1986 statutes allowing the United States “long-arm” jurisdiction in terrorism incidents involving American hostages or aircraft overseas. Younis was arrested in an elaborate operation by U.S. authorities in September, 1987, aboard a luxury yacht in international waters off Cyprus. Younis, who looked almost preppy in a gray V-neck sweater and green-and-navy striped tie, faces six charges of air piracy and hostage-taking that could bring him a life sentence. His involvement in the incident is little disputed, as the tapes played by federal prosecutor Karen Morissette showed.

But in an attempt to show that Younis’ rights were violated, Carter noted that Slade originally identified a man who had nothing to do with the hijacking from a selection of FBI photos--and missed Younis’ picture altogether--when first interviewed two years after the incident. Only after the FBI agent identified Younis’ picture was Slade able to point him out, Carter said. Younis spent most of the time in the cockpit, out of view of the passengers.

Carter hopes to prove that, in its zeal to capture its first international terrorist, the United States exceeded legal boundaries.

In his opening statement, Carter also noted that Younis was interrogated aboard a U.S. ship in the Mediterranean while suffering acute seasickness and two broken wrists, for which he was given only a bag of ice.

Younis’ wrists did not receive full medical attention for four days, until after he had signed a full confession. “You will have to determine whether the statement that my client gave was voluntary or involuntary,” Carter told jurors in his opening statement. A federal appeals court earlier overturned a lower court decision throwing out the confession.

Carter also questioned whether Younis, as a lower-ranking member of Lebanon’s Shiite Amal militia, can be held responsible for an act ordered by his superiors.

A third point of defense is that the hijackers never intended to harm the Americans. Slade testified that he saw two hijackers point to the Slades as the two Americans on board. They then told him: “Don’t worry,” he said.

Although no one was killed in the incident and none of the passengers were hurt, six Jordanian sky marshals were badly abused.

The prosecution spent much of the first day asking Slade and his son, William, about the beatings.

In cross-examination, Carter established that Younis was not among those who beat the marshals. Slade conceded that Younis came out of the cockpit and ordered an end to the brutality.