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Monday, October 16, 2000

Some on Saudi flight unaware of hijacking
Crew was calm during flight; pilot announced that negotiations were under way after landing
By Leon Barkho
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - They had been in the air only two hours when first-class passengers noticed a flight attendant emerge from the cockpit with tears in her eyes.
   Passengers became more concerned when the "fasten seat belts" warning light failed to go off and the monitor tracking their flight went blank.
   London-bound Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 115 had been hijacked.
   But passengers weren't told this while they were in the air, and the crew remained so calm that some passengers learned of it only after the plane landed in Baghdad late Saturday after a 7¤ -hour odyssey that began in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.
   "I first thought we landed at Heathrow in London. But when I looked through the window I said to myself, 'This is not London,' " said Iqbal Dawood from Pakistan, one of the 103 passengers and crew on the flight.
   Half an hour after landing, the captain announced to passengers that the plane had been hijacked and that negotiations were under way.
   The two hijacking suspects surrendered without incident in Baghdad.
   The suspects, identified by Saudi Arabian officials as Faisal al-Biloowi and Ayish al-Faridi, told reporters they hijacked the plane to demand rights for the Saudi people.
   "We want to choose our own leaders. The time of kings and monarchies is over," al-Faridi said.
   The hijacking took place at a time when anti-U.S. sentiment is running high in a region wracked by bloody Israeli-Palestinian clashes.
   Many Arabs believe the United States favors Israel, but the Saudi government is a close U.S. ally and has allowed U.S. troop bases on its territory since the Gulf War.
   Taher Haboush, the Iraqi official who led negotiations with the hijackers, said the men asked for political asylum.
   But they denied requesting asylum and said they would eventually like to leave Iraq.
   Saudi Arabia will demand their immediate extradition, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed said Sunday.
   Hijacking carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.
   It is unclear whether Iraq will heed the Saudi demand.
   The countries have had no relations since Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait in 1990, but a pre-Gulf War treaty provides for extradition.

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