American Notes JUSTICE

The Jordanian airliner was sitting on the tarmac at Beirut International Airport when it was stormed by terrorists on June 11, 1985. After a 13-hour siege, the hijackers released the 70 passengers, including four Americans, and blew up the plane. Last week one of the terrorists was finally haled into court -- in Washington. Fawaz Younis, 28, had been lured aboard a yacht in international waters off Cyprus, arrested by the FBI and flown to Andrews Air Force Base. If convicted on charges of hostage taking, he could face life in prison.

Younis, a Lebanese Amal militiaman, had appeared on television as a spokesman for the hijackers. He is the first person charged under a 1984 federal hostage-taking statute that gives the U.S. jurisdiction over terrorist acts overseas involving American citizens.