United States v. Yunis

681 F. Supp. 896 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Yunis (D) and four others decided to promote the removal of Palestinians from Lebanon by hijacking a Jordanian Airlines Flight 402. Three American citizens were involved as hostages. The plane was high-jacked in Beirut, refueled in Cyprus, refueled in Palermo, stopped again in Cyprus, and then returned to Beirut. The plane took off for Syria but was forced back to Beirut, and there the highjackers released the hostages, held a press conference, and then blew up the plane. D was immediately fingered, and the FBI hatched a plan to bring him to justice. D was lured onto a yacht and arrested when it entered international waters. Eventually, D was flown to the U.S. and arraigned. D defended by the affirmative defense of obedience to military orders as he was only acting on orders given by the Anal Militia. D moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Count I -- charged D with conspiracy to commit hostage-taking against passengers and crew, to damage, destroy, disable and place destructive devices aboard an aircraft, and to perform acts of violence against passengers and crew in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1203, 32(a)(1), (2), and (5); Count II -- seizing, detaining, and threatening passengers and crew members, including three American nationals as hostages, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1203; Counts III, IV, and V -- damaging, destroying, disabling, and placing a destructive device upon an aircraft operating in foreign air commerce and committing acts of violence against aircraft personnel in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 32(a)(1), (2), and (5). A superseding indictment was filed on October 1, 1987, adding four additional counts -- Counts VI, VII, VIII, and IX. Those counts charged D with damaging, destroying, and placing a destructive device on an aircraft registered in a foreign country and harming aircraft personnel, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 32(b)(1), (2), and (3) and 49 U.S.C. App. § 1472(n)(1).