W. Germany Charges Brother of Hijack Suspect With Kidnaping

An older brother of accused TWA hijack suspect Mohammed Ali Hamadi was charged with kidnaping two West Germans held hostage in Beirut, authorities said Thursday.

Ali Abbas Hamadi, 28, was charged Wednesday with planning and taking part in the kidnaping of businessmen Rudolf Cordes and Alfred Schmidt in an attempt to blackmail the Bonn government into releasing his younger brother, federal prosecutor Kurt Rebmann said.

Mohammed Ali Hamadi, 23, is suspected of taking part in the June, 1985, hijacking of a TWA airliner to Beirut during which a U.S. Navy diver was killed.

Bonn recently turned down a U.S. request for his extradition, out of concern for the lives of Cordes and Schmidt. Bonn said he would be tried in West Germany instead on murder and kidnaping charges.

The brothers are in West German jails. Mohammed Ali Hamadi was arrested on Jan. 13 at Frankfurt airport when he was caught carrying liquid explosives.

His older brother, a naturalized West German citizen, was arrested Jan. 26 at the same airport. He was returning from Lebanon, where Cordes and Schmidt had been kidnaped a few days earlier.

Rebmann said at a news conference that Ali Abbas Hamadi was charged with kidnaping, intimidation of the West German government and violation of explosives laws.

Government sources have said the kidnapers are believed to be members of Hezbollah, or Party of God, a radical, pro-Iranian Shia Muslim group.