Biography
Omar Rezaq was a Palestinian liberation fighter and member of the Abu Nidal Organization. In 1985, he and two others hijacked EgyptAir Flight 648 with the goal of pressuring the Egyptian government to refrain from normalizing relations with Israel and bringing attention to the Palestinian struggle. During the hijacking, an air marshal opened fire on the hijackers inside the plane, resulting in a shootout that damaged the aircraft and forced it to land in Malta rather than Libya, its intended destination. U.S. officials and Egyptian commandos arrived, and the commandos breached the plane without warning, in violation of the plan the Maltese government had approved. The commandos fired indiscriminately inside the aircraft and shot at the plane from outside on both sides. Sixty of the plane's 92 passengers were killed. Rezaq, the only surviving hijacker, was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Maltese court and received amnesty after serving seven years. Rezaq resettled in Africa, where, in July 1993, he was subjected to extrajudicial rendition by the FBI to the United States to be tried for the hijacking for which he had already served his sentence. He was convicted of air piracy and sentenced to life imprisonment, which he is currently serving at the high-security FCI Marion.
Verified source and chronology limits
Omar Mohammad Ali Rezaq was prosecuted in the United States for the 1985 hijacking of EgyptAir Flight 648. The FBI reports taking him into custody in Lagos, Nigeria, on July 15, 1993 and bringing him to the United States. His federal trial began June 17, 1996; he was convicted of air piracy on July 19 and sentenced to life imprisonment on October 7, 1996. The October 22, 2026 BOP locator lists him as Omar Mohammed Rezaq, register 20267-016, at FCI Marion.
This is the FBI’s contemporary prosecution account, not an independent finding about every allegation. A foreign arrest or transfer, an indictment, a jury verdict and sentencing are distinct events. No U.S. prison-admission day is inferred from the foreign arrest or court appearance. No release date is calculated from a sentence. Birth and death dates remain unverified; no race or religious identity is inferred. The BOP locator was checked October 22, 2026; no-result searches are not treated as proof of release or death.
FBI, Terrorism in the United States 1996; Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator.
