Abu Abbas

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Muhammad Zaidan (born December 10, 1948 in Safed , Israel , † March 8, 2004 near Baghdad , Iraq ), better known by his battle name ( Kunya ) Abu Abbas , was the founder and leader of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF). He is considered to be the mastermind behind the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro on October 7, 1985.

Zaidan grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and studied Arabic and English literature at the University of Damascus . In 1968 he joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP – GC) under the leadership of Ahmad Jibril . In 1977, amid growing tensions between the PFLP-GC, the PLO and other factions of the Palestinians, he left the PFLP because he rejected Syrian intervention in the Lebanese civil war and founded the PLF. This later split temporarily into three separate groups. Zaidan's wing of the PLF moved its headquarters to Tunisia .

For the kidnapping of Achille Lauro, Zaidan was sentenced by Italy in absentia to life imprisonment. As he supported the Oslo peace process, Israel allowed him to enter Gaza on short notice in 1996 , where he apologized for the hijacking of the ship and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer . However, he was still suspected of terrorist activities. According to the Israeli secret service , he allegedly supported families of suicide bombers with funds and ran the PLF training camps in Iraq .

On April 15, 2003, Zaidan was arrested by US special forces in Baghdad, where he had lived for years under the protection of the ousted ruler Saddam Hussein . He died on March 8, 2004 in US military custody near Baghdad of complications from heart disease.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Abu Abbas . In: Encyclopædia Britannica Online , accessed March 4, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b Dead Abu Abbas. Palestinians blame the US . In: Spiegel Online , March 10, 2004.
  3. ↑ Americans arrest terrorist chief Abu Abbas . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 16, 2003. Accessed November 11, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Abbas, Abu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zaidan, Muhammad (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Palestinian underground fighter
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Safed , Israel
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 2004
Place of death near Baghdad , Iraq