Ex-Hostage Fails to Identify Suspect

A German who had been held hostage in Lebanon testified Wednesday when confronted with one of his alleged kidnapers that he had never seen him nor heard his voice while in captivity.

Alfred Schmidt, who was held for seven months by extremist Shia Muslims last year, was unable to identify defendant Abbas Ali Hamadi after gazing intently at him and listening to taped telephone conversations of his voice.

Hamadi is charged with orchestrating the abductions of Schmidt and another West German, Rudolf Cordes, in a bid to prevent extradition of his jailed younger brother to the United States.