The World - News from May 26, 1987
Bonn offered pro-Iranian Lebanese kidnapers a deal for freeing two West German hostages, government sources said. The hostages, Rudolf Cordes and Alfred Schmidt, were abducted in Beirut last January to try to force Bonn to free Mohammed Ali Hamadi, jailed in Frankfurt for possession of explosives and wanted by the United States for murder and air piracy in connection with the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner. The sources said that under the proposed deal, Bonn would reject the U.S. extradition demand and try Hamadi in West Germany. They said a special negotiator presented the proposal in Tehran. Tehran radio said Iran would pass the proposal on to the kidnapers but would not act as a mediator.
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