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Arafat jails cruise ship hijacker as martyr Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/11/wabbas11.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/11/ixworld.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/11/wabbas11.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/11/ixworld.html Arafat hails cruise ship hijacker as 'martyr' By Toby Harnden in Jerusalem (Filed: 11/03/2004) Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, yesterday mourned the death of the "martyr" who masterminded the hijacking of a cruise ship in which a wheelchair-bound American tourist was shot dead and his body dumped overboard. Mr Arafat's comments seem likely to cement his status as a pariah in the eyes of the Bush administration. The Pentagon announced that Mohammed Abbas, 56, also known as Abu Abbas, died "apparently of natural causes" in American custody in Iraq. Abbas was notorious as the man behind the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro in which Leon Klinghoffer, 69, was shot twice and thrown into the sea. According to an Israeli intelligence officer, Mr Klinghoffer, who was recovering from a stroke, was murdered because his name "had a Jewish ring to it". After taking refuge in Iraq, Abbas was captured by US forces in the days after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. Mr Arafat risked provoking American anger by issuing a statement hailing Abbas, the leader of a splinter group called the Palestinian Liberation Front, as a national hero. "President Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leadership, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian National Authority, mourn the martyr leader Abu al Abbas, former PLO Executive Committee Member and the Secretary-General of the PLF," it said. "The Palestinian leadership mourns him as a distinguished fighter and a national leader who devoted his life to serve his own people and his homeland." The PLF issued a statement in Beirut that accused "the US occupation forces in Iraq" of assassinating "commander Abu Abbas" after "arresting him without any legal justification". Reem Nimer, Abbas's widow, demanded an explanation from the Americans. "They know how Abu Abbas died a martyr. Was he deprived of a medicine which led to a deterioration of his health? Or did he suffer a sudden stroke? Or was he tortured?" she said.

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