Page 367 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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Steen, Alann (1940– )———347

See also FALN; OMEGA 7 In the weeks following Steen’s abduction, Islamic
Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine repeatedly
Further Reading threatened to execute Steen and the others unless 400
Palestinian prisoners held in Israel were released.
“Croatians Are Suspected in Blast at Statue of Liberty.”
New York Times, June 6, 1980, B3. Steen’s photograph often accompanied such state-
Khiss, Peter. “Statue of Liberty Bomb Caused Only Minor ments, which were delivered to one of the Western
Damage to Three Museum Items: Room in the Base of news agencies in Beirut and to the Beirut paper,
the Statue.” New York Times, June 5, 1980, B3. an-Nahar. He was also used to deliver a six-minute
Montgomery, Paul L. “Statue of Liberty Is Site of a Blast in statement on videotape, released in late February. In
Exhibit Room.” New York Times, June 4, 1980, B2. the statement, deemed the captives’ “last message,”
Steen, unshaven and weary, announced that he,
Polhill, Turner, and Singh would be executed at mid-
STEEN, ALANN (1940– ) night unless the Palestinian prisoners in Israel were
released. Hours before the deadline, the Islamic Jihad
for the Liberation of Palestine released a written
Alann Steen, a professor of journalism at Beirut statement reiterating the threat. However, at mid-
University College, was one of the last American night, the kidnappers, citing the televised pleas of the
hostages to be released in Lebanon. hostages’ wives, abandoned their execution plans.
Steen was abducted during the series of kidnap- Later that week, the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation
pings of Western foreigners that followed Terry of Palestine again issued threats against the prison-
Waite’s final trip to Beirut. Waite, the Anglican envoy ers’ lives, saying they would be murdered as revenge
and hostage negotiator, had been sent to Lebanon to on the defenders of Salman Rushdie, author of The
secure the release of several Western hostages. Steen’s Satanic Verses. The kidnappers did not follow
was the tenth kidnapping in two weeks. through on these threats.
On January 24, 1987, a Saturday afternoon, According to fellow hostage Terry Anderson, Steen
gunmen dressed in the olive-colored uniforms of the did not fare well in the hands of his kidnappers. Steen
Lebanese police carried out a mass kidnapping on the was falsely identified by his kidnappers as a “spy” and
Beirut University College campus. Four gunmen was beaten severely, including repeated kicks to the
drove into the campus in a Nissan patrol jeep, claim- head that left him with brain injuries and periodic con-
ing to have been assigned to provide protection for all vulsions. The kidnappers finally called in a Hezbollah
foreign professors. Once inside, they asked the uni- doctor to prescribe medicine to keep him alive.
versity staff to congregate in the ground floor of the Steen was released on December 3, 1991, and dri-
living quarters. Steen, along with three others—Jesse ven to Damascus, Syria, where previous American
Turner, a professor of math and computer science, hostages had been released to U.S. authorities. The
Robert Polhill, a business studies professor, and White House thanked the U.N. secretary general, and
Mithileshwar Singh, an Indian business professor with the governments of Iran, Syria, and Lebanon for
an American passport—were taken at gunpoint. Female Steen’s release, which came just one day after Joseph
professors and university staff were not abducted. Cicippio, abducted in September 1986, was freed.
Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, a Terry Anderson, the last American hostage, would be
group associated with Hezbollah, claimed respons- freed the following day, December 4, marking the end
ibility for the kidnappings. (Islamic Jihad for the of the Lebanon hostage crisis for Americans.
Liberation of Palestine was considered separate from
Islamic Jihad, the extremist group that had kid- See also TERRY ANDERSON; HEZBOLLAH; TERRY WAITE
napped other Americans to be used as bargaining
chips for the release of 17 Iraqi and Lebanese pris- Further Reading
oners in Kuwait.) Investigators later found that Imad
Anderson, Terry A. Den of Lions: Memoirs of Seven Years.
Mughniyah and Abdel Hadi had orchestrated the New York: Crown, 1993.
mass kidnapping, bribing the police and other Fisk, Robert. Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. London:
guards. Deutsch, 1990.