Release, but call for trial

Press, 14 March 1977, Page 8

Release, but call for trial

NZPA Washington United States prosecutors say they will seek murder indictments against all 12 Hanafi Moslems who held 134 hostages during a 38hour seige that terrorised the American capital last week. Four of the gunmen, including their leader, were! freed without bail on Friday. All 12 were charged with armed kidnapping after they laid down their swords and rifles and released unharmed the hostages held at three locations since Wednesday.

Hamaas Abdul Khaalis. aged 55, the leader, returned to his heavily guarded home after a pre-dawn arraignment that was part of the deal he struck with authorities negotiating the surrender.

Bail of between 550,000 and $75,000 was set for the other eight gunmen. Speaking from his mosque in Chicago, the rival Black Muslim leader, Wallace Muhammad says that Khaalis’ freedom is. a threat to his own life.

“Any man capable of seizing the city hall, and the mosque in Washington and the Bnai Brith temple, and that killed a young reporter ... is capable of killing me.” he said. Khaalis, a leader of the Hanafi sect, an offshoot of the Black Muslims, blamed Muhammad and some of his followers for the slaying of his children in an attack in 1973 on his home in Wash ington. The “New York Times” said in an editorial on Saturday that the authorities in Washington had acted wisely in releasing Khaalis without bail. “Their first concern was 134 real lives, not some abstract, contradictory, speculative argument over precedent . . . they deserve respect and gratitude for their patience, skill — and success."

It said the United States should be grateful to the three Moslem ambassadors who took part in the negotiations.