LEBANESE ACCUSED OF KILLING U.S. NAVY DIVER TO GO ON TRIAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00789R000400020002-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: July 5, 1988
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release : ornw 8Af M1)f*W Uft
By Roberti. McCartney
Waawpu? Fnt Fareiyn 5,,,,,,
FRANKFURT, July 4-Shortly
after 2:30 a.m. on Juno 1s, 1985,
two radical Shiite hijackers wearing
Palm 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.
port shot hint in the head and
hurled his body to the tarmac.
on Tuesday,. In a $6.7 million,
high-slecurity courtroom built for the
occasion, Lebanese Mohammed Ali
Hamadei goes on trial on charges of
havipgparticlpated in the murder.
The trial will be scrutinized by
W
hi
as
ngton policymakera and Bei-
rut kidnapers as a rare instance in
b Lebanon,
west --- Ae kidnapers of
I^ -
st, stn g.fThed
They -grabbed-Cordes as
The case carries conxtderable
b
sym
olic importance in me United
States, because therdramatic 17-day
n ncanmemories, the
$erP of Capt. John L.
Purser Ulrike (Uli) Derickson head.
Purser a heroine for refusing the hi.
jackers' demand that she pick out
Passports of passengers with Jew-
ish-sounding names.
"This 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 de-
manded, after the hijacking ended.
Hamadei faces a mandatory life
sentence if he is 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 sched-
uled to last until December.
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 Hamadei drag
Stethem to the front of the cabin,
wave a gun in the air, and exult af-
ter the shooting.
There is a Possibility that the
maximum sentence could be re-
dared 15 years if the court
judges t it is important that Ha-
forn adult-at the time the
madjb~, i s under 21-and there-
hijawas planned, Persons be-
twages of 18 and 21 can
recpedal treatment under
Weman law.
Ang to the birthdate on
sevicial documents, Hamadei
turthe day before the hijack-
ing and now is 24.
A ment purported to be a
Lebbirth certificate indicating
that our years younger-which
wouire that he be treated as a
juvend face a maximum 10
yeartence-is not taken very
seriven by his court-appointed
defe ttorney, Gabriele Steck-
Bromrie.
Hansdei also faces sentences of
up to :5 years' imprisonment if con-
victed on a variety of other charges,
including hijacking, hostage-taking,
4 4o 6o on 'Trial
aggravated robbery and what trans-
lates from Germsn as 'robber-like
extortion." He face@ lesser charges
of causing grievous, bodily harm,
explosives violations and forgery.
The stakes in the case are mixed
for West Germany, where Hamadei
was 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 a4ihorities have
pledged to prosecute Hamadei 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
the nation's judiciaryii pendent
of outside pressures. y Bonn also
wants to safeguard hostage Cordes
in Lebanon and has already disap-
pointed Washington by refusing a
year ago to extradite Hamadei to
the United States to stand trial.
MOHAMMED ALI HAMADEI
... accused of hijacking TWA is
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400020002-4