Younis Is Found Guilty of Air Piracy, Hostage-Taking

In a key test of new U.S. counterterrorism law, Lebanese militiaman Fawaz Younis was found guilty Tuesday of air piracy and hostage-taking in the June, 1985, hijacking of Royal Jordanian Airlines Flight 402.

Younis was convicted of three of six charges in the hijacking by a federal court jury after 2 1/2 days of deliberations.

Government officials called the verdict an affirmation of the U.S. legal provisions enacted in 1984 and 1986 that provided for apprehension of terrorism suspects outside the United States for trial here.

The case proves “the determination of the U.S. government to bring to justice in the United States international terrorists who victimize innocent U.S. citizens wherever violence and hostage-taking acts are committed,” said U.S. Atty. Jay B. Stephens.

Two Americans were aboard the aircraft, which was blown up by the hijackers after the hostages and crew were released.

However, some counterterrorism experts said that Younis’ acquittal on three charges was clearly a setback for the government, particularly in light of the fact that Younis admitted that he had led four colleagues in the 30-hour hijacking.

“The case was flawed from the beginning as we didn’t have the John Dillinger of international terrorism on trial here,” said Neil C. Livingstone, adjunct professor of national security at Georgetown University. “We had a relatively small fish with a rather fuzzy case against him.”

Younis, 30, showed little emotion when the verdict was read. He faces up to life imprisonment on the charge of seizing hostages. The two other charges on which he was convicted, conspiracy to commit air piracy and hijacking a commercial airliner, provide for maximum penalties of five and 20 years respectively. He is to be sentenced in 30 to 45 days.

The jury acquitted the Lebanese national on charges of using or threatening violence against airliner passengers, destroying a civilian aircraft and carrying destructive devices aboard an aircraft.

Court-appointed defense attorney Francis D. Carter said that he plans to appeal the verdict on several grounds, including that the law is invalid. He called the case “ridiculous. Younis has no business being here.

“This case wasn’t about the United States. The plane wasn’t brought to the United States. And the Americans on board were in no way harmed.

“It wasn’t worth the time and trouble the government put into it,” he said. “And obviously the U.S. went through a lot of expense and effort to get him here. I believe they wanted a show trial, and they got their show trial.”

The defense largely centered its case on the anarchy in Lebanon at the time Younis and his colleagues seized the Jordanian airliner in Beirut and held 70 passengers and crewmen hostage. Younis testified that he was a member of Lebanon’s Amal militia, which was in a state of war with other factions in the nation, and that he acted on an order from a military commander.

The prosecution argued that hijacking a commercial airliner was clearly illegal and that the Jordanian airline and passengers were not involved in the war.

The verdict was “a boost for our efforts to effectively deal with international terrorism,” Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said in a statement. “Those who violate the rights of U.S. citizens are hereby put on notice that the American law enforcement system is capable of exacting a penalty for these terroristic crimes, regardless of where they occur.”

The Younis case was the first based on the new counterterrorism law. Younis was captured in 1987 by federal agents who lured him aboard a yacht in international waters off Cyprus.

Sources close to the case estimate that the cost of the elaborate military-style operation to lure Younis from Lebanon, the charter planes used to ferry him between a New York prison and the Washington courthouse and the extensive legal preparation for the high-priority prosecution cost the government in excess of $1 million.

‘Risked the Principle’

“We went for an easy rather than an obvious or more deserving figure,” said Livingstone of Georgetown University. “We hung it all on this one guy and risked the whole principle.”

Added Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism specialist at Santa Monica-based RAND Corp.: “No one expects this conviction will stop terrorism or attacks on Americans abroad. Terrorists will not cower and fear because of this verdict.”

But he added that the conviction on the three charges may help preempt government discussion of military options as the most viable way to combat international terrorism.

The outcome “means we will not have to stoop to the terrorists’ level. This puts us on a higher moral plane. Americans should take satisfaction in this, and it will also appeal to the international community,” Hoffman said.

Without a conviction, the recent laws and the right of “extraterritorial apprehension would have been stopped dead in their tracks,” Livingstone explained.

The case has been at the center of a major dispute among U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials. Several argued before Younis’ abduction in 1987 that he should not be the first target. They pointed out that no one was killed during the comparatively brief hijacking and that Amal was one of the few Lebanese militias that has had cordial relations with the United States.

Intelligence officials particularly favored trying to apprehend someone from Hezbollah, or the Party of God, which has been linked to suicide bombings, hijackings that led to deaths, and prolonged hostage situations. However, counterterrorism officials decided that Younis might be a successful target.