Hijack Trial Jury Told Orders Are Illegal Defense

The judge in Fawaz Younis’ hijacking trial Friday gave the jury stern instructions that seemed to undercut the defendant’s argument that he was justified in taking over an airliner in Beirut in 1985 because he was under orders from a Lebanese militia.

“Orders to hijack a plane . . . are illegal orders,” U.S. District Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr. told the jury of seven women and five men. “Obedience to illegal orders is no defense.”

The judge said Younis should be acquitted only if he did not know that hijacking was illegal.

Younis has testified that he knew that hijacking was illegal in peacetime and that the Amal militia to which he belonged was not at war with Royal Jordanian Airlines, the government of Jordan, the two Americans aboard the aircraft or any of the other 70 passengers and crew members.

Younis, 30, has pleaded innocent in the case, which is a test of a 1984 statute asserting “long-arm” U.S. jurisdiction in cases involving American hostages taken overseas.

Federal prosecutors sought to convince jurors that Younis knew he was committing an illegal act against innocent civilians by seizing control of Royal Jordanian Flight 402 on June 11, 1985.

If convicted of the six counts against him, Younis could face life in prison plus more than $410,000 in fines, which he does not have money to pay. He has been held in isolation since his arrest in September, 1987, and is represented by court-appointed counsel.