West German Hostages Link Kidnaping to TWA Hijack Suspect
Two West Germans kidnaped in Beirut confirmed that they were seized to force the release of a hijacking suspect wanted by the United States, a West German news magazine said Saturday.
Der Spiegel, in its edition prepared for release Monday, said Rudolf Cordes, 53, Beirut manager of the Hoechst chemical firm, and Alfred Schmidt, 47, a technician for the Siemens electronic company, said in letters to Chancellor Helmut Kohl and their relatives that they were kidnaped to force the release of hijacking suspect Mohammed Ali Hamadi.
Hamadi, 22, was arrested Jan. 13 by West German police who found three wine bottles filled with liquid high explosive in his possession when he arrived at Frankfurt airport from Beirut. He is wanted by the United States in connection with the June, 1985, hijacking of a TWA jetliner in which an American passenger was killed.
The Kohl government, which has imposed a news blackout on the case, made no comment on the Der Spiegel report.
The United States has requested that West Germany extradite Hamadi to face charges that he took part in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the killing of U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem.
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