Leader of 1986 Hijacking Plot Sentenced to Life in Prison

[demdave]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The leader of a group of Palestinian terrorists who took over a Pan Am jet and killed 22 people was sentenced to life in prison Thursday, capping an emotional two-day hearing in which survivors recounted their trauma from the 1986 hijacking attempt.
Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini was sentenced to 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 approved Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Judge Emmet Sullivan also said he would recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that Al Safarini never be paroled and that he be sent to a supermaximum security prison in Florence, Colo., whose inmates include Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, and Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

"You are a coward and cold-blooded murder," Sullivan said to Safarini. "I think this sentence is better than what (you) deserve. But for the court to reject it, would be arbitrariness. ...That's the maximum allowable sentence."

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAE2FIG7UD.html