Achille Lauro Hijacking. Law Case Study Assignment

Achille Lauro Hijacking
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Introduction
On 3rd October 1985, the Italian Achille Lauro liner was hijacked by four men associated with the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF). The liner was sailing from Egypt to Israel. The hijackers held the passengers as hostages and diverted the vessel to Syria. Additionally, the terrorists also made demands before releasing the hostages and abandoning the liner; they demanded the release of all Palestinians held in Israel prisons. The hijackers who were aligned with the Palestine Liberation Front, which is linked to the Palestine Liberation organization had threatened to kill the passengers in the vessel if their demands were not fulfilled. In facts, the terrorists killed Leon Klinghoffer, a chair wheel bound passenger, by shooting him to the forehead and then dumping his body to the sea.
Additionally, it was noted that throughout the hijacking, the criminals were received a transmission from a shore contact and it was presumed that the person who was issuing commands was Mohammed Abbas Zaidan, the leader of Palestine Liberation Front Organization. It was clear that Egypt was noting going to prosecute or extradite them; Egypt had made a contract with the hijackers that they would be provided with safe passage and immunity from prosecution. Additionally, because the majority of the hostages were American tourists, President Ronald Reagan deployed different agencies, including Navy’s SEAL Team Six, among others for possible rescue attempts. In 10th October the same year, the United States military managed to intercept the Egyptian airliner, which carried the terrorists and forced it to land in a NATO base in Sicily, where the hijackers were arrested and prevented from flying to their freedom. This incident shows the actions that a country can undertake under international law to detain suspected criminals who are not within its jurisdiction.[Tracey E. Madden, "An Analysis of the United States' Response to the Achille Lauro Hijacking." Boston College Third World Law Journal 8, no. 11 (1988): 137-149.]
Facts
The armed Palestinians who captured the Italian cruise held about 400 passengers and crew members as hostages. The hijacking started after the ship left Alexandria for Port Said when the terrorists seized the control of the vessel. Additionally, the hijackers were spotted by a waiter who saw them cleaning their weapons in one of the vessel’s cabin. Most importantly, the terrorists had boarded the ship in Genoa, and their primary intention was to attack the port of Ashdod in Israel, they, however, aborted that mission thus seizing Achille Lauro. The attack on the vessel was retaliation by the Palestinians for the attack on PLO headquarters in Tunisia. The terrorists had demanded the leader of Israel to free nearly fifty Palestinians who were held in jails in Israel. After diverting the vessel to Syria and Cyprus, where it was denied the port rights, the terrorist went back to Egypt, where it anchored at port Said. Additionally, it was after getting back to Egypt that the hijackers negotiated with various parties, including ambassadors from both Italy and West-Germany, the advisor to Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and other leaders associate...