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Ignoring Washington’s Extradition Request
Germany has quietly released a jailed Hezbollah member wanted by the US for killing an American Navy diver. The timing — just days after the freeing of a German hostage in Iraq — has raised uncomfortable questions.
Apparently ignoring Washington’s extradition request for Mohammed Ali Hamadi, German authorities have secretly released the Lebanese Hezbollah member who was serving a life sentence in the country for the hijacking of a TWA jet and for the murder of a US navy diver.
TWA flight 847 from Athens to Rome was hijacked to Beirut, where the hijackers shot US Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem, 23, of Waldorf, Maryland, and dumped his body on the tarmac.
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The German Foreign Ministry however has denied any link between the Hamadi and Osthoff releases. “There is no connection between these two cases,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jäger told Reuters.
But a Lebanese source told Reuters that a senior German intelligence officer visited Damascus early this month but did not disclose the purpose of the trip. Syria is a key backer of Hezbollah and Hamadi’s brother, Abdul-Hadi, was a senior security official of the group.
Hamadi’s release may anger Washington
Meanwhile, the release could anger Washington as US prosecutors had indicted him for Stethem’s murder and requested extradition if he was released.
The U.S. embassy in Berlin had no immediate comment. Diplomats said privately that it could further complicate touchy relations between the two allies that had warmed considerably since a dispute over the Iraq war.
She testified in West Germany at the trial of Mohammed Ali Hamadi, one of the hijackers who was convicted of murdering Stethem. He received a life sentence.
She also served as a consultant for the NBC-TV movie, “The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story.” Actress Lindsay Wagner played Derickson.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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this really pisses me off!
The Germans had no backbone in the seventies to stop Arab terror, see story of Munchen 1972.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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(Wikipedia) — On October 29, 1972, a German Lufthansa jet was hijacked and demands were made for the release of the three Black September members being held for trial. The men were subsequently released by Germany. Some commentators suspect that the German government released the terrorists to avoid the embarrassment of having to deal with them (Reeve 2001).
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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Hamadi’s arrest was a fluke. He was questioned at the Frankfurt airport in January, 1987, because of suspicious behavior. That “border stop” led the authorities to discover explosive material hidden in his possession. Only after he was booked and fingerprinted did the Germans realize who they had in custody. Immediately, the Kohl government notified the United States.
In response, the State and Justice Departments worked through the night and a Washington blizzard preparing the proper extradition papers and translating the documents into German. But within 24 hours of the public announcement of Hamadi’s arrest, a German citizen was kidnapped in Beirut; within a few days the terrorists grabbed a second German hostage.
Hamadi was tried in Frankfurt for the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the murder of Navy diver Robert Stethem. The U.S. government had strongly requested that Hamadi be extradited to be tried in U.S. courts, but the Germans refused. The refusal was based on terrorists’ demands not to extradite or they would kill two German hostages in Lebanon.
The great urgency suddenly subsided into a six-month lull while the Germans delayed and delayed their decision on extradition.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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BEIRUT Lebanon (Al Jazeera) Dec. 20 — Under German law, Hamadi became eligible for release after serving 15 years. He spent over 18 years in jail in Germany.
“We have demonstrated over the years that when we believe an individual is responsible for the murder of innocent American civilians, that we will track them down and that we will bring them to justice in the United States,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
Was the parole a quid pro quo for Susanne Osthoff’s release?
The U.S. is talking with the Lebanese government about Hamadi, but the issue has been complicated because the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon.
McCormack said the U.S. sought jurisdiction over Hamadi after he was arrested and over the years has repeatedly sought to have him tried in the United States.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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Dick and Patricia Stethem, parents of U.S. Navy Diver Robert D. Stethem, watch commissioning ceremonies for the guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem in Port Hueneme, Calif., in this Oct. 21, 1995, file photo. AP Photo/Carlos Chavez, Pool“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
I’ve been researching the administration claims into their prosecution of the GWoT and I’m sincerely shocked at the lack of credibility their claims carry.
I just finished reading about the American that was in the car, with 6 others, destroyed by a Hellfire from drone in the desert. No trial,….nothing close to due process. Any chance someone can explain how one person managed to escape that? The bodies were still burning when they claimed to have identified him. It appears that FISA was instrumental in that ‘neutralization’.
They’ve caused me doubt the truth to any story on the subject through it’s long history.