Israel National News reports on the release of convicted terrorist Yousef Majed al-Molqui, the leader of a group of Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) terrorists who hi-jacked the
Achille Lauro cruise ship and who murdered American citizen Leon Klinghoffer:
Molqui served 23 years of his 30-year jail sentence for his role in the hijacking and murder of a wheelchair-bound Jewish passenger.
Italian officials announced Molqui's release on Thursday. He is currently staying in a holding center, where he is fighting an expulsion order. He has married an Italian citizen, and claims that his marriage should grant him citizenship as well.
Probably all countries with naturalization processes exclude certain kinds of criminals from being allowed to attain citizenship. Normally one would expect convicted murderer/hijackers to be excluded, but the way things work in Europe today one can never be too sure.
Ha'aretz reports that
Molqui was released early "for good behavior."
The Israel National News report continues:
Molqui escaped in 1996 while on leave from prison, but was recaptured and returned to jail.
It is not clear how escaping from prison while on leave constitutes "good behavior".
Molqui and three other members of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) terrorist group hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship off the coast of Egypt in 1985. The hijackers demanded the release of 50 terrorist prisoners in Israeli jails.
During the incident, the hijackers also murdered wheelchair-bound American citizen Leon Klinghoffer and threw his body overboard. Klinghoffer, 69, was singled out because he was Jewish.
A second hijacker, Ibrahim Abdel-Atif, was released from prison last year and is also fighting a deportation order.
