Multiple Life Terms Possible in Hijacking

The Justice Department moved swiftly today to win extradition of a Palestinian wanted in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner, and a top official said prosecutors may seek multiple life sentences for the suspect.

Associate Atty. Gen. Stephen S. Trott said today that he expects the complicated extradition process against Mohammed Ali Hamadi “to go rather smoothly” now that the United States has agreed to West German demands that he be spared a death sentence if convicted.

Another Justice Department official said he expects the formal application against Hamadi, accused of air piracy and murder in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the death of a Navy seaman on board, to be filed Tuesday.

“(Hamadi) faces an array of 15 felony charges,” Trott, the No. 3 ranking official in the Justice Department, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “He’s looking at approximately (a) life sentence, although we’re studying the possibility of even asking for more.”

“In a recent espionage case on the West Coast, we were able to convince a judge to give somebody convicted 365 years, but those are all legal determinations that will have to be made sometime later,” he added.

He referred to the sentencing of a member of the John Walker spy ring, Jerry Whitworth.

‘To Give Reassurances’

West Germany has no death penalty, and its laws bar extradition of people to countries that have capital punishment.

“In order to bring him back to the United States to stand trial, we have to give the Germans assurances that if convicted, he will not suffer the death penalty,” Trott said.

Hamadi is charged with air piracy, which carries the death penalty in the United States, and murder.

If extradited, Hamadi would be the first suspected Middle Eastern terrorist returned to the United States for trial.

Trott acknowledged that U.S. officials are concerned about the possible reprisals by terrorist groups in Lebanon against U.S. or West German citizens for Hamadi’s arrest and possible extradition.

“We’re always concerned about that but we’re confident that this will proceed with great haste,” he said.

Retaliation Feared

On Saturday, a German business executive was kidnaped by a carload of unidentified gunmen in Beirut--a move some authorities fear was a retaliatory step against West Germany.

Trott also indicated that U.S. officials may have had advance word that Hamadi would enter Frankfurt, West Germany, last week.