Panama Court Classifies the Alas Case as a Crime against Humanity and Upholds the Investigation of Ali Zaki Hage
The judges of the Superior Court for the Liquidation of Criminal Cases dismissed an appeal regarding the statute of limitations for criminal action in the Alas case. Pictured below is Colombian-Venezuelan citizen Ali Zaki Hage Jalil (center), an alleged terrorist linked to Hezbollah.
KEY POINTS
- On April 20, 2026, Ali Zaki Hage Jalil arrived in Panama after Venezuela approved his extradition in connection with the 1994 bombing of Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, marking the most significant breakthrough in the case in three decades.
- Flight 901 was bombed on July 19, 1994, one day after the AMIA attack in Buenos Aires. All 21 people on board were killed, including Panamanian Jewish passengers, U.S. citizens, and Israeli nationals. U.S. intelligence attributed the attack in Panama to Hezbollah as part of the same operational wave.
- Panamanian prosecutors allege that Hage Jalil helped organize the operation, including the procurement of explosive materials under false identities. At the same time, Ali Hawa Jamal carried the bomb aboard and died in the blast.
- The case only regained momentum after Israeli intelligence shared new evidence with Panama in 2017; President Juan Carlos Varela later confirmed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had personally transmitted the material.
- Venezuelan authorities had long functioned, in practice, as a shield for Hage Jalil. The extradition became possible only after the Venezuelan court accepted that Ali Hage’s 2005 naturalization was obtained fraudulently to evade Panamanian justice.
The High Court of Criminal Case Settlement denied a statute of limitations appeal filed by the defense of Ali Zaki Hage Jalil, who is being investigated for his involvement in the 1994 bombing of an Alas airline plane that killed 21 people. The decision, signed by Magistrate José Hoo Justiniani, maintains the investigation being carried out by the Public Ministry’s Discharge Prosecutor’s Office, which was granted a one-year extension on June 5 to conclude the investigations related to the aircraft explosion.
