The World - News from July 9, 1987

The kidnapers of two West Germans indicated that they want to restart secret talks leading to the release of the two men following the Bonn government’s decision not to extradite suspected Lebanese hijacker Mohammed Ali Hamadi to the United States. “If good intentions are proved, we will take steps for every step taken by the government,” the kidnapers said in a statement to the Beirut newspaper An Nahar. Rudolf Cordes, 54, and Alfred Schmidt, 47, were seized in West Beirut last January, shortly after Hamadi’s arrest. The kidnapers sent a photocopy of Cordes’ passport along with the statement, which was signed by a previously unknown group.