A terrorist who was jailed in the US for a bloody hijacking is still a wanted man in Malta after having escaped from Corradino prison in 1982 where he was serving time for murder, The Times learnt yesterday.
Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini, a Jordanian who, while here, was known as a Habib Ahmed Khalil, of Lebanese nationality, was apprehended by the FBI in Bangkok on September 28, 2001.
At the time he had just been released from jail in Pakistan, where he served a 14-year sentence in connection with a hijack, and was on his way back to Jordan.
Mr Safarini was one of four hijackers wearing Karachi airport security guard uniforms who took control of a Pan Am Boeing 747 aircraft on September 5, 1986 while it was parked at Karachi Airport with 379 passengers on board. The hijackers killed 22 passengers and wounded over 100 others.
The hijackers stormed up the stairways into the plane but flight attendants alerted the cockpit crew and the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer escaped through a hatch in the cockpit, effectively grounding the aircraft.
Mr Safarini, who was the leader of the hijackers, demanded the return of the flight crew to fly the aircraft to Larnaca, Cyprus, where he wanted to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners being detained there.
During 16 hours of negotiations between Mr Safarini and Pakistani authorities, he threatened to kill all the passengers. He later shot American citizen Rajesh Kumar in the head and pushed him out of the door onto the tarmac.
When night fell and their demands had not been met, the hijackers herded the passengers and crew into the centre of the aircraft and on Mr Safarini's signal, after the hijackers recited a martyrdom prayer in Arabic, the four opened fire on the passengers and crew, and threw grenades among them.
Those who survivied escaped through two doors which were forced open when the firing began. Many passengers and crew were forced to jump from the wing of the aircraft onto the tarmac.
The terrorists were then arrested by Commandos who stormed the aircraft.
The hijackers were convicted in Pakistan and handed down death sentences that were commuted to life imprisonment.
However, Mr Safarini's sentence was reduced by a series of amnesties and he was released on September 27, 2001, only to be arrested by American agents.
He was taken to the US where the death penalty was sought. His defence lawyers offered a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence.
On May 13, 2004, after admitting that he and his fellow hijackers committed the offences as members of the Abu Nidal Organisation, he was given three consecutive life terms plus 25 years on 95 charges of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to attempt murder as part of a plea agreement.
Judge Emmet Sullivan recommended to the Bureau of Prisons that Al Safarini should never be given parole and that he be sent to a super-maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.
Mr Safarini is still a wanted man here because of the arrest warrant issued at the time of his escape from prison on June 10, 1982.
A police spokesman yesterday said that when Mr Safarini was arrested to be taken to the US, and images of him were published, they realised that the man with the name of Safarini was none other than the one known as Habib.
According to records held in Malta, Mr Safarini, who was known as Habib or Mahmoud, was born on June 15 1962, son of Habib Khalil Fatima nee Ismail. He had a scar on his left eyebrow and a round scar on the left arm. He spoke Arabic and French.
He was being held in preventive custody at Corradino after killing a Lebanese national with a pistol on October 8, 1981.
He was arrested on the same day but escaped on June 10, 1982 together with Louis Bartolo, the man who had shot dead John Bondin, known as Il-Fusellu.
At the request of the Malta police, an international arrest warrant was issued through Interpol against the two men.
The request by Interpol stated that Habib had been sent to Malta from Lebanon to kill Abu Tariq, the PLO representative in Tripoli who was meant to be in Malta at the time.
Instead, he shot dead the wrong person - Lebanese national Mohammed Ali Tamine, 32 - in broad daylight at the Gzira seafront by shooting him six times while the victim was in his car.
Habib fled the scene but was chased and shortly apprehended by two police officers.
He had told the police he was given the pistol together with $300 by another terrorist whom he was asked to contact in Malta.
The identity of this terrorist remained unknown. In return, Habib gave the other terrorist his identity documents and passport. No identification documents were found on Habib. He was arraigned over wilful homicide and was in prison awaiting trial by jury.
It is not known which country Habib went to after he escaped from Corradino.
The arrest of Habib, by then going under the name of Safarini, was similar to that of Mohammed Ali Rezaq, one of the EgyptAir hijackers who was arrested by US security personnel in Nigeria on being released from prison here.
Mr Rezaq had been imprisoned for 25 years, but like Mr Safarini (or Habib) Mr Rezaq had his sentence reduced because of a number of amnesties.
Like Mr Safarini, he was jailed for life. Mr Rezaq's trial in the US took place in 1996.