: P| y n Trial Approved For Release dadurusses uvRDP eHNTIg REO MOe9 Ddea-40 Go 0 : : By Robert J. McCartney ‘Washington Post Foceign Service "FRANKFURT, July 4—Shortly “after 2:30 am. on June 15, 1985, ., two radical Shiite hijackers wearing “Palm Beach guits and Italian shoes “dragged U.S. Navy diver Robert *_ Deary Stethem of Waldorf, Md., to “the door of a TWA et parked on a , Tunway of Beirut International Air- port, shot him in the head and ._ hurled his body to the tarmac. On Tuesday, in a $6.7 million, high-security courtroom built for the .. occasion, Lebanese. Mohammed Ali Hamadei goes on triat on charges of _ having particlpated in the murder, ‘The trial will be: scrutinized by : Washington policymakers and Bei- rut kidnapers as a rare instance in hich a suspected major interna- nal terrorist faces the court of a stern democracy, e will be watching it closely ag ure of effective western re- errorism,” said L, Paut the State Department's ssador-at-large “for counter terrorism. 0 Bow : Ja Lebanon, the -kidnapers of West Geng’ chemical~company 1 manager Rudolf Cordes also will be aichiig. They grabbed Cordes as (Fibstage four days after Hamadei's _ arrest in Janugry 1986, to press for , tage,” Bremer said, : 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, ~ plans to call 125 witnesses, includ- | ; be found guilty of murder if he was , aware that the killing was planned - and approved it, , "man who resembles Hamadei drag : jackers" demand that she pick out ‘ Passports of passengers with Jew- the defendant's release, Two : West Germans were later kidayoed __ in Lebanon but have been rejeased, Case carries “ considerable sym importance in che United : States, because the/dezmatic 17-day ” hifacking is one of the best known . instances in which terrorists directly } challenged the Ub. government, ‘In jiérican memories, the Mie t9 sharp of Capt. John L. : Testrale’s: televised interview in ' the Boetag 727 cockpit while a hi- - | decker pointed a gun at his head, : set Ulrike (Uli) Derickson be- * Came a heroine for refusing the hi- 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- Thirty-nine Americans out of the Hamadei faces a mandatory life Sentence if he is convicted of mur. q dering Stethem, The prosecution ing a large number of the American Passengers, and the trial ig sched- uled to fast until December, i It is understood that hone of the witnesses actually saw which hijack- er pulled the trigger, Under Ger- man law, however, a hijacker could Passengers have said they saw a 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- | Te eae A ht ta eG Re eR ong duced #15 years if the court judges §t i¢ is important that Ha- madei Js under 21~and there- fore nopn adult—at the time the hijackingwas planned, Persons be- tween gf ages of 18 and 21 can receivepspecial treatment under West Gtman law. Accoging to the birthdate on severalfficial documents, Hamadei turned fl the day before the hijack- ing begh, and now is 24, A dument purported to be a Lebane: birth certificate indicating that heb four years younger—which would ¥quire that he be treated asa juvenilg and face a maximum 10 years’ jentence-—is not taken: very seriougy even by his court-appointed defens! 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, vom aggravated robbery and what trans- iates from German_as-“robber-like extortion.” He faces. 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- fart airport as he allegedly tried to smuggle in four bottles. of highly ex- plosive liquid disguised as wine. West German, authorities 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 Judiciary jf Independent of outside pressures. Rut Bonn also, wants to safeguard hostage Cordes in Lebanon and has slready disap- pointed Washington by refusing & year ago to extradite Hamadei to the United States to stand trial. of: A TNS MOHAMMED ALI HAMADE! accused of hijacking TWA je Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000400020002-4