Lebanese Convicted of Hijacking, Murder Escapes Swiss Prison
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ORBE, Switzerland — A Lebanese man serving a life sentence for hijacking an Air Afrique airliner and killing a passenger in 1987 escaped from jail Thursday, police said.
Police said Hussein Mohammed Hariri escaped with four other convicts, including notorious French criminal Jacques Hyver, from the Bochuz prison.
Prison director Andre Vallotton said the convicts overpowered prison staff and temporarily held them hostage. He said they then seized a truck making deliveries to the prison and commandeered a passing car before fleeing.
Police began a search and captured one of the escapees.
Hariri commandeered an Air Afrique DC-10 on a flight from Brazzaville, Congo, to Paris in July, 1987, to press demands for the release of Lebanese and Palestinians held by France, West Germany and Israel.
The Swiss Supreme Court sentenced Hariri, 26, to life imprisonment in February, 1989, after finding him guilty of murder, attempted murder and hostage-taking.
For Hyver, 43, it was the second jailbreak. He previously escaped from a French prison where he was serving a long sentence for kidnaping.
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