Hijacking of ships
The Achille Lauro Incident
This hijacking incident happened on October 7, 1985, when the Italian ship MS ‘Achille Lauro’ was hijacked by four men representing the Palestine Liberation Front off the coast of Egypt, as she was sailing from Alexandria to Ashdod, Israel. A 69-year-old Jewish American man in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was murdered by the hijackers and thrown overboard. The hijacking sparked the “Sigonella Crisis”.
Sigonella in Italy is the airbase where the hijackers landed after being given safe passage from Egypt, after freeing the vessel’s hostages and disembarking from the vessel.
The ‘Sigonella’ incident is the standoff that occurred between US Navy Seals and Italian defence forces. In the incident the Italians prevented the US Seals from arresting the hijackers. The hijackers were finally arrested by the Italians and tried in Italy, for hijacking and murder.
After the trial, they were sent to an Italian prison.