JORDAN - Palestinian Hanged for '94 Assassination

In Amman, a Palestinian man was hanged for the 1994 assassination of a Jordanian diplomat in Lebanon, security officials said Thursday.

 Yasser Mohammed Abu Shinar, 37, died for the slaying of Naeb Imran Maaytah, 1st secretary of the Jordanian Embassy in Beirut. The diplomat was shot dead while sitting in his car in front of the embassy on Jan. 29, 1994.

 The assassination was part of a campaign against Arab countries making peace with Israel. Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty in October 1994.

 Abu Shinar was hanged Wednesday morning at Swaqa Penitentiary, 62 miles south of Amman, the capital, Jordanian security officials said on condition of anonymity.

 The security officials said Abu Shinar expressed regret for his crime and pleaded for forgiveness before he was hanged at dawn.

 Abu Shinar was arrested in March 2000 after arriving to Jordan from a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.

 4 others were convicted and sentenced to death along with Abu Shinar, including Abu Nidal, a notorious Palestinian militant found dead in his Baghdad apartment in August. Iraqi authorities said Abu Nidal, whose real name is Sabri al-Banna, committed suicide.

 1 of the 5, Jamal Darwish Fatayer, was arrested last December after being expelled from Libya. He is being tried again under a Jordanian law allowing anyone convicted in absentia the right to a retrial.

 Abu Shinar was the only one of the 5 not convicted in absentia.