Craig Leitner, a 25-year-old former American citizen and member of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Kach Party in Israel who escaped from custody in Israel over a year ago was returned here on Friday, on extradition from the U.S.
He had been charged in Israel with six attacks on Arab vehicles and homes in Ramallah, Hebron and Jerusalem and was also suspected of participating in a bomb attack on the Al-Fajr Arabic newspaper offices in East Jerusalem.
Leitner had agreed to serve as state’s witness against four other accused Jewish underground members. His testimony helped convict three other Kach members.
But he escaped from a holding cell in October 1984, before he could testify in court against another member, who was subsequently acquitted for lack of evidence. Leitner was arrested by U.S. marshalls last January, on the basis of an Interpol request initiated by Israel.
The actual extradition was delayed by repeated appeals by his attorneys, who claimed the activities in which he was being charged in Israel did not occur within Israel proper (within the “Green Line”) but in the West Bank where Israeli law did not apply.
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