Bonn Clarifies Its Stand on Accused Lebanese Terrorist

A top aide to Chancellor Helmut Kohl acted Saturday to clear up confusion that arose during the Venice economic summit over the status of an accused Lebanese terrorist with presumed ties to Iran, now held by West Germany and wanted in the United States for hijacking and murder.

During and after the summit, Kohl and President Reagan and their spokesmen gave varying answers to questions about disposition of the case of Mohammed Ali Hamadi, 22, under U.S. indictment in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner to Beirut while on a flight from Athens to Rome. A U.S. Navy petty officer was slain during the hijacking.

Washington has formally requested Hamadi’s extradition to stand trial in the United States, while reports have lately circulated that Bonn hopes to exchange Hamadi for two West German businessmen held hostage in Lebanon. The businessmen were abducted in Beirut in January after Hamadi was arrested at Frankfurt airport for possession of explosives.

Speaking privately and on condition that he not be named, Kohl’s aide detailed what he says will be the most likely course of events in Hamadi’s case.

The aide confirmed that Bonn is indeed seeking the release of businessmen Rudolf Cordes and Alfred Schmidt through negotiations in Beirut and Tehran. But he said any arrangement would not involve freedom for Hamadi in exchange for the two West Germans.

Trial in West Germany

Instead, he said, Bonn, in exchange for the businessmen, will agree to try Hamadi in West Germany rather than extraditing him to the United States.

Presumably, Hamadi would get off with a lighter sentence from a West German court, since he committed no crime in this country save bringing in explosives to the Frankfurt airport.

If the businessmen’s captors do not accept such a solution, then Hamadi would be extradited to the United States, where he would face tougher charges and a more hostile legal environment, the aide said.

Moreover, as the aide sees it, Hamadi would stand a greater chance, after any conviction, of having his sentence commuted by West German authorities than by those in the United States.

This is thought to be the bargaining card Bonn is playing in search of an agreement with the kidnapers of the two businessmen.

The most recent public statement here on the case was made by a government spokesman, who said that Bonn would follow one of two courses: trying Hamadi here or extraditing him to the United States. But he added that no final decision has been made.

An authoritative source says the decision has not been made because negotiations in the Middle East are still in progress.