Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, center, participates in a ceremony at the grave site of Saint Francis in Assisi, Italy, in 2003. (Domenico Stinellis/AP)

Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who was a Melkite Greek Catholic archbishop in Jerusalem when Israel convicted him in 1974 of using his diplomatic status to smuggle arms to Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank, has died. He was 94.

The Vatican and the Melkite Greek Catholic patriarchate on Jan. 2 confirmed reports that Archbishop Capucci had died in Rome, but they did not disclose the date of death or other details.

Archbishop Capucci, a native of Aleppo, Syria, had a history of activism linked to the Palestinian and other Middle Eastern conflicts.

He served two years of a 12-year sentence in an Israeli prison for his conviction, then was released through Vatican intervention and deported.

In a statement on the Wafa news agency’s website, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered his condolences and described Archbishop Capucci as a great “freedom fighter” who was known for defending the rights of the Palestinian people.

The prelate went to Iraq to help secure freedom for 68 Italians in 1990. The Italians were among hundreds of Westerners whom Saddam Hussein’s government had prevented from leaving Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait that year.

But the regime allowed politicians, prominent public figures and peace groups to escort some Westerners out of the country. Some people, including more than 100 Americans, had been held as “human shields” at strategic military and industrial sites in Iraq.

Archbishop Capucci’s activism continued well into his later years.

He was 86 in 2009 when he was a passenger on an aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip that Israel intercepted. The ship had tried to enter Gaza in defiance of Israel’s blockade of militant-held territory. The Israeli military cited concerns about smuggled weapons. Those aboard said the ship was carrying medicine, food and toys.

In 2000, Archbishop Capucci led an anti-sanctions delegation to Iraq. The archbishop, leading a group of clerics and intellectuals based in Italy, flew to Baghdad from Syria on a humanitarian flight authorized by the U.N. sanctions committee.

He told reporters at the time that two nations were suffering in the Middle East, “the Iraqis because of sanctions and the Palestinian people, who are fighting for their dignity.”

While in Iraq, he visited a shelter that was struck by a U.S. missile during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The U.S. military thought the building was an intelligence-gathering facility. More than 400 civilians were killed, and Archbishop Capucci called the bombing victims “Iraqi martyrs.”

— Associated Press