Hijacker “looking for fame”

The hijacker of a Yemeni airliner told the court his action had no political or terrorist motive. Jaber Ali Satter, a pro-Iraq Yemeni, took the plane to Djibouti where he was over-powered and handed over to security officials. He is now on trial in Sanaa, Yemen, charged with kidnapping, endangering the safety of passengers, forging official documents and carrying unlicensed weapons.

“My action had no political or terrorist motives. I was only looking for fame,” Sattar told the court, Agence France Presse (AFP) said. A Yemeni official told AFP that Sattar had nevertheless given the investigation team “contradictory confessions.” US ambassador Barbara Bodine was last week among the 91 passangers on board the hijacked internal Yemeni airlines flight which finally landed in Djibouti. Sattar’s lawyer told the court on Tuesday that the defendant had no idea the ambassador was on board and that a shot he fired during the incident went off by accident. The court heard that the pilot convinced Sattar that the Boeing 727 needed to refuel in Djibouti, and the crew overpowered the hijacker once the plane landed. The hijacker was handed over to Djibouti security officials. All the passengers fled the aircraft using the emergency slides.