W. Germany Indicts Arab in Fatal 1985 TWA Hijacking

Lebanese terrorism suspect Mohammed Ali Hamadi was formally charged here Monday with complicity in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner and the murder of an American passenger, the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office reported.

Hamadi was arrested at the Frankfurt airport in January, 1987, on his arrival from Beirut, but an indictment was not handed down until Monday. No date for his trial was set.

In indicting Hamadi, whose brother is on trial in West Germany on a kidnaping charge, Bonn kept a promise to the United States. The Bonn government had rejected a U.S. request to extradite him, saying that he would be tried in West Germany instead.

The West German indictment charges Hamadi with acting with other terrorists to hijack a TWA airliner, carrying 153 passengers and crew, from Athens to Beirut in 1985 and murdering Robert D. Stethem, a Navy diver from Waldorf, Md. Most of the passengers were released but 39 American men were held during a 16-day hostage ordeal.

Hamadi also was charged with taking hostages, aggravated assault, blackmail and possession of explosives.

If convicted he could be sentenced to life. He is listed as 23 years old, but he claims to be 19, which would make him a minor under German law and pave the way for a more lenient sentence if convicted.

Hamadi’s brother, Ali Abbas Hamadi, 29, is being tried by a state court in Duesseldorf for alleged complicity in kidnaping two West Germans in Beirut in January, 1987, to blackmail West Germany into refusing to extradite Mohammed to the United States.

One of the two hostages was released Sept. 7 amid reports the Germans had paid a huge ransom. The other still is being held.

Mohammed was arrested Jan. 13, 1987, at the Frankfurt airport when explosives allegedly were found in his possession. It was not known until later that he was wanted in the United States.

A week later, the two German businessmen were seized in Beirut.

Ali Abbas Hamadi, who holds West German citizenship through marriage to a German, was arrested at Frankfurt airport Jan. 26, 1987, on his return from Beirut.

A third brother, Abdel Hadi Hamadi, is believed to be the mastermind behind the kidnaping of the two Germans. He is reported to be the security chief of the pro-Iranian Shia Muslim group, Hezbollah (Party of God).