Hindawi Affair
Encyclopedia
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd , trading as El Al , is the flag carrier of Israel. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights to Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East from its main base in Ben Gurion International Airport...
flight from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
in April 1986 and its international repercussions.
On the morning of April 17, 1986, at Heathrow Airport in London, Israeli security guards working for El Al airlines found 1.5 kilograms of Semtex
Semtex
Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex became notoriously popular with terrorists because it was, until recently, extremely difficult to detect, as in the case of Pan Am...
explosives in a bag of Anne-Marie Murphy, a five-month pregnant Irishwoman attempting to fly on a flight with 375 fellow passengers to Tel Aviv. In addition, a functioning calculator in the bag was found to be a timed triggering device. She was apparently unaware of the contents, and had been given the bag by her fiancé, Nezar Hindawi, a Jordanian. He had sent her on the flight for the purpose of meeting his parents before marriage. A manhunt ensued, resulting in Hindawi's arrest the following day after he surrendered to police. Hindawi was found guilty by a British court in the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
and received 45 years imprisonment, believed to be the longest determinate, or fixed, criminal sentence in British history http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1307628,00.html (but see also life sentence).
Hindawi subsequently appealed the sentence of 45 years. His appeal was rejected by the Lord Chief Justice who noted that "Put briefly, this was about as foul and as horrible a crime as could possibly be imagined. It is no thanks to this applicant that his plot did not succeed in destroying 360 or 370 lives in the effort to promote one side of a political dispute by terrorism. In the judgment of this Court the sentence of 45 years' imprisonment was not a day too long. This application is refused."
Background
When Murphy met Hindawii in 1984, she worked as a chambermaid at the Hilton Hotel, Park LanePark Lane (road)
Park Lane is a major road in the City of Westminster, in Central London.-History:Originally a country lane running north-south along what is now the eastern boundary of Hyde Park, it became a fashionable residential address from the eighteenth century onwards, offering both views across Hyde Park...
in London. When she became pregnant with his child, Hindawi convinced her that they should go to Israel in order to get married. He also insisted that she should go on ahead since, as an Arab, it would take longer for him to obtain a visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
. Unknown to Murphy, he intended her to take an explosives-laden bag on board an El Al
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd , trading as El Al , is the flag carrier of Israel. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights to Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East from its main base in Ben Gurion International Airport...
flight from Heathrow Airport to Tel Aviv on April 17, 1986. He escorted her to the airport and instructed her not to mention his name, since Israeli security would interrogate her about their relationship.
Immediately after escorting his girlfriend to the airport and leaving her there at 8.am., Hindawi returned to London and then boarded the Syrian Arab Airlines bus to return to airport to catch a 2 p.m. flight to Damascus. But before the bus set off, he heard the news that a bomb had been discovered in Heathrow. He left the bus, went to the Syrian embassy and asked there for assistance.
The ambassador passed him to the embassy security men, who took him to their lodging, where they tried to change his appearance by cutting and dyeing his hair. But for an unknown reason, early next morning on April 18 Hindawi fled from the Syrians, and gave himself up to the British police.
He was interrogated intensively for number of days, during which his sleep was interrupted.
During interrogations and later trial he described two conflicting stories leading up to the incident. During the interrogation, Hindawi claimed to have arranged the plot with high-ranking officers in Syrian Air Force
Syrian Air Force
The Syrian Air Force is the Aviation branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It was established in 1948.-History:The end of World War II led to a withdrawal of the United Kingdom and France from the Middle East, and this included a withdrawal from Syria...
intelligence a year earlier in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, where he was given Syrian papers and instructions for operating the explosives. He supposedly conducted a training run back in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
before returning again to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
for final details and preparation. As for the explosives themselves, Hindawi said that they were delivered to him in the Royal Garden Hotel
Royal Garden Hotel
Royal Garden Hotel is a 5 red star hotel in London, England. It is located in the heart of Kensington, on Kensington High Street, overlooking Kensington Palace and gardens...
in London on April 5, less than two weeks prior to the attempted bombing. This story is supported by the fact that Hindawi first sought refuge in the Syrian embassy after he had learned of the failed bombing, and Syrian officials were in the process of altering his appearance before he fled again, only to surrender to police. Also, British intelligence had previously intercepted Syrian communications with Hindawi's name, Hindawi was using genuine Syrian documents although he was not Syrian, and Hindawi's original escape plan involved leaving England with Syrian agents working on Syrian Arab Airlines
Syrian Arab Airlines
Syrian Arab Airlines , operating as Syrian Air , is the flag carrier airline of Syria. It operates scheduled international services to over 40 destinations in Asia, Europe and North Africa, as well as domestic services. Its main base is Damascus International Airport. Syrian Air has a fleet of...
. Hindawi's confession during the interrogation was the basis for the prosecution case.
But later during the trial in the court Hindawi retracted his confession and claimed that he was the victim of conspiracy probably by Israeli agents. He claimed that the police forced him to sign the statements attributed to him unread, threatened to hand him over to Mossad and told him that his parents were also arrested in London.
In attempting to construct a credible defence for his client, Hindawi's legal counsel suggested an alternative interpretation of events during the trial, when he alleged that his client was not working for the Syrians after all, but was being manipulated by Israeli intelligence
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
, which wished to damage and embarrass the Syrian government. The jury was unconvinced by this version of events, and subsequent appeal judges have dismissed such interpretations as entirely lacking in evidence. There is a broad consensus in the intelligence community that such an interpretation is highly unlikely, at best.
Repercussions
After the court found Hindawi guilty, British Prime Minister Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
broke off diplomatic relations with Syria. Following this the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
recalled their ambassadors from Syria. The European Community also imposed minor sanctions.
The Helsinki Warning of the Lockerbie disaster almost exactly matched the circumstances of Murphy, but the woman who was to carry the IED
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
was Finnish and not Irish.
Allegations of Mossad involvement
On November 10, 1986, the French prime minister Jacques ChiracJacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
said in interview with the Washington Times, that German chancellor Kohl and foreign minister Genscher both believed that "the Hindawi plot was a provocation designed to embarrass Syria and destabilize the Assad regime.." by "...people probably connected to Israeli Mossad". Chirac added that he tended to believe it himself.
Syrian president Assad in his interview to Time magazine on 20 October 1986, said that the Israeli intelligence planned the Hindawi operation
Patrick Seale
Patrick Seale
Patrick Abram Seale is a British journalist and author who specialises in the Middle East, as well as a literary agent and art dealer. He is a former correspondent for The Observer and has interviewed many of the Middle East's most prominent leaders and personalities.Seale is the author of a number...
writes that the Hindawi family (from the Jordanian village of Baqura) had a history of connection to Mossad. Hindawi's father was a cook for the Jordanian embassy in London, he was revealed by Jordanians as a Mossad agent, tried in absentia in Jordan, sentenced to death, but escaped his sentence by staying in Britain. Jordanian sources revealed to Seal that Hindawi himself worked for money for several foreign intelligence services, including Mossad.
According to Seal, sources in Syrian intelligence told him that they "had fallen in to Israeli trap" and were penetrated and manipulated by Mossad in order to smear Syria with terrorism and isolate it internationally. Colonel Mufid Akkur, whom Hindawi named in court, was arrested in Damascus on suspicion of working for Israel.
Aftermath
In April 2001 Nizar Hindawi became eligible for parole, but his right of appeal was denied by Home SecretaryHome Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Cultural references
- The 1988 novel Special Deception by Alexander FullertonAlexander FullertonAlexander Fullerton is a British author of naval and other fiction. Born in 1924 in Suffolk and brought up in France, he was a cadet during the years 1938-1941 at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth from the age of thirteen...
uses the Hindawi trial as the background to a Soviet plot to stage an atrocity in Syria which will be blamed on the British government.
- Simon, one of the main characters in Atom EgoyanAtom EgoyanAtom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...
's 2008 film AdorationAdoration (film)Adoration is a 2008 Canadian drama film directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Rachel Blanchard, Scott Speedman and Devon Bostick. It is Egoyan's first feature film since Where The Truth Lies....
, claims that his father planted a bomb in his pregnant wife's luggage before she flew to Israel.
External links
- Anne-Marie Murphy Case (1986) by the Shin Bet