Death Penalty Ruled Out in Hijack Case : Move by U.S. Helps Clear Way for Bonn to Extradite Lebanese

The United States has agreed reluctantly not to seek the death penalty against a suspected Lebanese terrorist arrested in the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, clearing a critical hurdle for his extradition from West Germany, the Justice Department announced Sunday.

The decision is expected to end a deadlock between the two governments over this country’s earlier refusal to rule out capital punishment for Mohammed Ali Hamadi, 22, a Lebanese charged with conspiracy to commit air piracy and murder in the 17-day ordeal that began June 14, 1985, on a flight from Athens to Rome and resulted in the murder of a 23-year-old U.S. Navy diver, Robert Dean Stethem.

Justice Department officials said in a statement that the decision was reached “because this is the only means by which the U.S. can obtain custody of the suspect.”

Major U.S. Goal

The statement said that “a major goal” of the United States in its discussions last week with the Bonn government had been “to seek a way of transferring custody of the suspect in a way that would not preclude capital punishment” but that U.S. officials concluded that “the only manner in which he can be sent to the U.S. for trial is through formal extradition.”

The terms of the bilateral extradition treaty, together with West German law, require that the United States agree not to impose the death penalty should the suspect be convicted of a capital crime in the United States, the department said.

“We wanted to explore the alternatives thoroughly and satisfy ourselves that there were no other alternatives--so that’s what we did,” said Patrick Korten, a spokesman for the Justice Department, in a telephone interview.

Hamadi was arrested last Tuesday at the Frankfurt airport after customs inspectors found he was carrying material that could be used to make explosives. Further, military sources said at the time of his arrest, his fingerprints matched those found aboard the hijacked TWA jetliner.

Death Maximum Penalty

The day after his arrest, U.S. officials told the West Germans that Hamadi was wanted in the United States for conspiracy to commit air piracy and murder aboard TWA Flight 847. Air piracy carries a maximum penalty of death. However, West Germany, which has no death penalty and forbids extradition of suspects who face the death penalty, refused to release Hamadi without assurances that capital punishment would not be invoked.

Hamadi’s arrest and expected extradition are likely to fuel fears of renewed terrorist attacks in retaliation, possibly against Americans or Germans. On Sunday, the West German Foreign Ministry said that a West German businessman was kidnaped in Beirut, and newspapers in Hamburg and Bonn said the kidnapers apparently hope to trade him for Hamadi.

West German officials, however, said it is too early to say if Saturday’s abduction of Rudolf Cordes, 53, was connected to the Hamadi case.

Korten said Sunday that the United States has filed a request for provisional arrest of the suspect under the terms of the extradition treaty, and “is preparing a formal request for extradition to the United States.” The request will be presented to the German government within the week “through our embassy people in Bonn.”

Korten said that Hamadi, named in a criminal indictment unsealed late Thursday in Washington, will be tried in federal court here and, if convicted, could receive a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

He said the Justice Department anticipates no problems with the extradition, now that the one key obstacle has been overcome.

‘We’ll Get Him’

“I don’t think there’s too much doubt we’ll get him, but it does require a court process in Germany,” Korten said. “We don’t want to prejudge, but our expectation is, we’ll get him. It may take several weeks.”

The hijackers of Flight 847, believed to have been Shia Muslims belonging to the extremist Hezbollah (Party of God) organization, forced the plane to crisscross twice between Beirut and Algiers before landing in Beirut for a third and final time June 16.

Most of the passengers were released in the first few days after the takeover and shooting death of Stethem, but the crew and 37 other male passengers were detained as hostages in Beirut. They were not freed until there was intervention by Syrian officials and leaders of the Lebanese Shia Muslim militia Amal.