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From Supermax to Sudan: 1973 Terrorist Leaves Prison

By Jeralyn

Last week, Palestinean refugee and Black September terrorist Khalid Al-Jawary, 63, finished serving 15 years of his 30 year sentence for placing three bombs in New York City in 1973 and left Supermax in Florence, Colorado for Kartoum, Sudan.

Al-Jawary ended up in Sudan after Algeria initially agreed to accept him but then reversed course, setting off an intense scramble to find a country that would take him. It's unclear why Algeria ultimately decided against taking Al-Jawary.

Al-Jawary wanted to be deported to Jordan, where his family lives, but the country apparently would not allow him. Federal officials said he had dual citizenship with Jordan and Iraq.

More...

More on his crime:

His deportation came 36 years to the day that he placed bombs in two cars on Fifth Avenue and a third at JFK Airport timed to coincide with the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. He was convicted in 1993 of planting the bombs, which failed to detonate.

....In a sworn statement to immigration officials in 2000, Al-Jawary admitted he belonged to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which routed Fatah in a takeover of Gaza in June 2007.

He never talked:

A hardened terrorist, he never cracked in prison and refused to give up information that might have shortened his time behind bars.

Sudan previously has served as a host country to Osama bin Laden and Carlos the Jackal and is believed have a "long relationship: with the PLO.

Bin Laden moved to Sudan in the early 1990s and began building his al-Qaida infrastructure that included a mix of business and terrorist enterprises. Bin Laden was expelled in 1996 under pressure from the U.S. and moved his operations to Afghanistan.

I wonder how he will be treated in Sudan:

Black September terrorists stormed the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum just days before Al-Jawary's bombs were supposed to detonate in New York City. The attack left three diplomats dead.

More on Black September:

The PLO-controlled Black September was also responsible for the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre in which 11 Israeli athletes were murdered.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 04, 2009 (boomark / email).