American Notes JUSTICE

As he climbed aboard the yacht anchored off Cyprus, the suspected Lebanese terrorist was offered a beer. Then two FBI agents kicked his feet out from under him and fractured both his wrists while slapping on a pair of handcuffs. Fawaz Younis, 28, who had been lured aboard the yacht last September with promises of a drug deal, was wanted for leading the hijacking of a Jordanian airliner at Beirut International Airport in 1985. He was then transported to a U.S. Navy ship, where he was interrogated nine times in four days. Not surprisingly, Younis confessed to the hijacking.

Not so fast, said U.S. District Judge Barrington D. Parker last week. The oral and written confessions were obtained illegally, Parker ruled, and the "relentless questioning" of the hijacker violated his constitutional rights. Parker noted that Younis had been read his Miranda rights, but that several crucial words had been left out.

However, the judge did not dismiss the indictment against Younis, who is the first person to be charged under a 1984 federal hostage-taking statute that gives the U.S. jurisdiction over terrorist acts overseas involving American citizens. His trial is scheduled to begin March 22.