Approved For Release
  By Robert J. McCartney-
  P~ F-v~ Se-
  FRANKFURT
  July 4-Shortly
  after 2:30 a.m. on June is, 1985,
  two radical Shiite hijackers wearing
  Pahn Beach suits and Italian shoes
  -dragged U.S. Navy diver Robert
  Dean Stethem of Waldorf, Md., to
  'the door of a TWA jet parked on a
  runway of Beirut International Air.
  ot him in the head and
  h. his t6 t tarmac.
  on Tue
  Y. In a $6.7 million,
  hi filly rtroona built for the
  Occlisim, ban Mohammed Ali
  He 1 goes on trial on charges of
  he i ParticlPat in the murder.
  trial Will scrutinized by
  Washington Policymakers an
                 d Bei
  rut kwnapers as a rare instance in
  hich a suspected major interne.
             r
  nell terrorist faces the court of a
  stern democra ,
  =d
  e _.11 be
  ae will watching it closely a4
  atire
       ure Of effective western re-'
  errorism," said L Paul
  ~B-'e
  ,e r.t
  Bret~tate , Department,g
  or.
  orra
  a"Arge for counter.
  ter
  Wrism
  bLJibanQn,,Ae hidnapers of
  West Germ chemical company
  0,
     managqF A olf Cordes aLs; will he
  They grabbed Cordes as
  four days after Hamadeps
  i1irreat in January 1986, to press f"
  the deleridant's irelease,'Tw, W
  West Germans wete later kl&wrd
  in Lebanon but have been relmsed.
            The case carries coixiderable
       symbok importance in Me United
       States, because theldmatic 17-day
       ililacking is one q( the beat known
       mstanc" 'hi terrorists directly
       5 in w lc~
  challenged tJ - government.
  imen in- I= memories, the
  ge 40.
  - "MrPO(CaPt.johni-
  T
  e*r&W A "alevised interview in
  the 8D*j 727 cockpit while a hi.
  Mer Pointed 4 gun at his head.

  Purser UIlike (Uli) Derickson be-
  came a heroine for refusing the hi.
  jackers' demand that she Pick out
  Passports Of Passengers with Jew.
  ish-souridjug names.
       'nis is an extremely important
  case because of the brutality of the
  crimes and the prolonged agony of
  the Passengers who were held hos.
  tage," Bremer said.
       ThirtY-nine Americans out of the
  Original 153 Passengers and crew
  were held hostage for the full 17
  days. More than 700 Moslem de.
  tainees held by Israel were released
  in stages, as the hijackers had dL-
  manded, after the hijacking ended.
            Hamadei faces a mandatory life
       e
       sentence if he I's convicted of mur.
       dering Stethem, The prosecution
       Plans to call 125 witnesses, includ.
       ing a large number of the American
       Passengers, and the trial is hed.
       uled to last until December. se
       It is understood that none of the
  witnesses actually saw which hijack.
  er Pulled the trigger. Under Ger.
  man law. however, a hijacker could
  be found guilty of murder if he was
  aware that the killing was planned
  and approved it.
       Passengers have said they saw a
  man who resembles Halmdei drag
  Stethern to the front Of he cabin,
  wave a gun in the air, and exult af-
  ter the shooting.
  There is aPossibility that the
  maximum sentence could be re.
    duced
  'e.. if the court
       judgeE t j, Li_par,..t ,hat Ha
       dei s irn _,imd 'here.
       ma
            n
       0
       fore nonadult~t the time. the
       c
  hijacki was planned, Persons be-
  t,c(,.n ages of 18 and 21 can
  n
       've
  receive -pecial treatment under
  West man law.
            r
       c~"
       Acc ing to the birthdate on
       severa fficial documents. Hamadei
       turned the day before the hijack
       be
  g be
  ingj, and now is 24
  At
  d
       Adumen purported to be a
  eba

       L' birth certificate indicating
  a.efl
       that he four years younger-which
  ~l Jhd
       would quire that he be treated as a
       juvenil and face a maximum 10
       ml
       years' ntence-is not taken very
  n,
       e
  seriou even by his court-appointed
  defe attorney, Gabriele Steck.
  Bromrie.
  Hanadei also faces sentences of
  up to !5 years' imprisonment if con-
  victed on a variety of other charges,
  including hijacking, hostage-taking,
  N*, o- iliial
  on
  ggravated robbery and what trans,
  a
  lates from German as 'robber- ike
  extortion." He face@ lesser charges
  of causin grievous bodily harm,
  forgery.
  expTIhosivetasgkvisoliantitohnesca4~sde are mixed
  Hamadei
  for West Germany, where
  wag caught 18 months ago at Frank-
  furt airport as he allegedly tried to
  smuggle in four bottles of highly ex-
  plosive liquid disguised as wine.
  West German siptborities have i~
  pledged to prosikute Himadel to
  the full force of the law, and they
  know that any backsliding will draw
  bitter protests from Washington.
  Court officials here and federal
  officials in Bonn emphasized that oft-,
  the nation's judiciaryi,12dependent
       B
  of outside pressures. y Bonn al$6
  wants to safeguard hWage Cordes'
  in Lebanon and has already disap-
  pointed Washington by refusing a
  year ago to extradite Hamadei to MOHAMMED ALI HAMADEI
  the United States to stand trial. ... ficenand of hibicking TWA L-
  Approved For Release 2000/08/08 CIA-RDP96-00789ROO0400020002-4