A U.S. Defense Department spokesman said that Abbas died March 8, "apparently . . . of natural causes."

Abbas, whose given name was Mohammed Abbas, had been convicted in absentia in an Italian court for the 1985 hijacking and sentenced to life in prison in 1986, but never served any time. His arrest came 18 years after seizing the Achille Lauro off Port Said, Egypt.

The passengers were released after two days and the hijackers surrendered to Egyptian authorities, who put them on a flight to the Palestine Liberation Organization's headquarters in Tunisia.

U.S. Navy fighters forced the flight down in Sicily. The Italians, to the Americans' dismay, allowed Abbas to flee to Yugoslavia before a U.S. warrant for piracy and hostage-taking could be served.

Abbas was captured in southern Baghdad by U.S. forces in a raid in April, and lived the last 11 months of his life in American custody.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 20, 2004
(C) All rights reserved