1985 Ship Hijacker Wins Immunity

The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that a former Palestinian guerrilla is immune from trial in Israel for the 1985 murder of an American aboard a hijacked cruise ship, officials said. Abul Abbas was sentenced in absentia by Italy to a life term for masterminding Palestinian guerrillas’ seizure of the Achille Lauro, during which U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer, 69, was shot and killed. Abbas, who spent years in Baghdad, moved to the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip last year. The court ruling cited a peace deal that exempted from prosecution Palestinians accused of crimes committed before a landmark September 1993 Israeli-Palestinian accord and who had entered Palestinian-ruled areas from abroad after September 1995.