ACHILLE LAURO

ACHILLE LAURO, an Italian cruise ship hijacked en route from Alexandria to Port Said, Egypt, in October 1985 by four members of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), an Arab extremist group. Holding 438 hostages, the hijackers sailed to Tartus, Syria, and demanded that Israel release fifty PLF prisoners. Denied entry at Tartus, the terrorists executed a wheelchair-bound American passenger. They surrendered after fifty-two hours and were taken to Cairo. When Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak allowed the hijackers to fly to Tunisia, American navy jets forced the flight to land in Sicily. U.S. investigations linked the hijacking to Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat and PLF president Mohammed Abul Abbas Zaidan.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cassese, Antonio. Terrorism, Politics, and Law: The "Achille Lauro" Affair. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989.

Carolyn Bronstein/C. W.

See also Arab Nations, Relations with; Hostage Crises; Terrorism.