The World - News from Feb. 15, 1987

American Muslim leader Mohammed Mehdi, defying a U.S. order declaring Lebanon off-limits to U.S. citizens, arrived in Beirut on a mission to try to win freedom for at least 25 foreign and about 2,000 Lebanese hostages. Mehdi, secretary general of the New York-based National Council of Islamic Affairs, criticized the U.S. government for imposing travel restrictions after a surge of kidnapings last month. “We’ve come here with our American passports because we believe that the State Department order is a violation of our constitutional rights,” Mehdi said.