SPACE WIRE
Italy to seek extradition of Abbas
ROME (AFP) Apr 16, 2003
Italy will seek the extradition of Abu Abbas, the Palestinian militant accused of masterminding the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise liner, Justice Minister Roberto Castelli said Wednesday.

The fugitive Abbas was captured in Baghdad Monday by special operations forces backed by US army troops.

He was sentenced in absentia in Italy to five life terms for his role in the Achille Lauro hijacking, in which an elderly, wheelchair-bound American tourist, Leon Klinghoffer, was murdered and thrown into the Mediterranean.

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