Mohammed Ali Hammadi
Encyclopedia
Lebanese people
The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
citizen and alleged member of Hezbollah (aka Lebanese Hizballah), he was convicted in a West German court of law of air piracy
Aircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
, murder, and possession of explosives for his part in the June 14, 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847
TWA Flight 847
TWA Flight 847 was an international Trans World Airlines flight which was hijacked by Lebanese Shia extremists, later identified as members of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, on Friday morning, June 14, 1985, after originally taking off from Cairo. The flight was en route from Athens to Rome and then...
.
Under indictment by US law enforcement
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
for crimes related to the same hijacking, during which one passenger, U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem
Robert Stethem
Robert Dean Stethem was a United States Navy Seabee diver who was killed by Hezbollah militants during the hijacking of the commercial airliner he was aboard: TWA Flight 847...
, was extensively tortured prior to being murdered, Hammadi was sentenced to life imprisonment by the West German court. He was imprisoned in 1987 in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
for 19 years, but was abruptly paroled in 2005, and became a fugitive from the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, which listed him as one of the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists
FBI Most Wanted Terrorists
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted Terrorists is a list of fugitives who have been indicted by sitting Federal grand juries in the United States district courts, for alleged crimes of terrorism. The initial list was formed in late 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks...
in 2006. He was believed to have resided in Lebanon, where he may have rejoined Hezbollah.
There has been speculation that his parole was granted as part of a covert prisoner swap, in exchange for the release of Susanne Osthoff
Susanne Osthoff
Susanne Kristina Osthoff is a German archaeologist who had worked in Iraq since 1991 until being taken hostage there on November 25, 2005. She was freed by her captors on December 18, 2005.- Biography :...
. Taken hostage in Iraq a month prior, Osthoff was released the week of Hammadi's parole.
Imprisoned in West Germany
Two years after the TWA Flight 847 attack, Hammadi was arrested in Frankfurt, West Germany in 1987 while attempting to smuggle liquid explosives. In addition to the charges in West Germany of illegal importation of explosives, he was charged with the 1985 hijacking and hostage taking; tried and convicted of Stethem's 1985 murder, he was sentenced to life in prison.The first opportunity for parole to be granted on a life sentence in Germany is ordinarily after 15 years. However Hammadi's life sentence included a provision that due to an exceptional grave degree of guilt the first parole review was to be later. The Landgericht (regional court) Kleve decided on November 30, 2005, to grant Hammadi's application for parole, after his having served 19 years of his term. The US government has sought his extradition from Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
.
Fugitive in Lebanon
His indicted accomplices in the TWA Flight 847 attack, Hassan Izz-Al-DinHassan Izz-Al-Din
Hasan Izz-Al-Din is a Lebanese national wanted by the United States government.Hasan Izz-Al-Din is an alleged member of Hezbollah. He is currently wanted by the United States government for his alleged involvement in the June 14, 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847. This attack resulted in the...
, and Ali Atwa
Ali Atwa
Ali Atwa is a Lebanese national and member of the Islamist organization Hezbollah. Atwa is also known as Ammar Mansour Bouslim and Hassan Rostom Salim....
continue to elude arrest and currently remain at large, having been placed among the original 22 fugitives on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list on October 10, 2001, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Another accomplice, Imad Mughniyeh, was killed on February 12, 2008 in a car-bombing attack in Damascus, Syria. Those responsible for this attack remain unknown as of February 13, 2008.
On February 14, 2006 the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
federal government, through the ambassador to Lebanon, had formally asked the Lebanese government to extradite Mohammed Ali Hammadi for the murder of Robert Stethem during the 1985 hijacking.
On February 24, 2006, he joined his accomplices on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list, under the name Mohammed Ali Hamadei.
Several news outlets reported the announcement by Hezbollah of the death of Imad Mugniyah
Imad Mugniyah
Imad Fayez Mughniyah , also transliterated Mughniyya, Mughniyeh, Mogniyah, , alias Hajj Radwan , was a senior member of Lebanon's Hezbollah organisation. He was alternatively described as the head of its security section, a senior intelligence official and as a founder of the organisation...
by explosion in Syria on February 13, 2008. The remaining three fugitives from TWA Flight 847 remain on the list, and at large.
On September 12, 2006, a "Bush administration official" indicated that Hammadi had rejoined Hezbollah upon his release from German prison.
On February 12, 2007, the FBI announced a new $5 million reward for information leading to the recapture of Hammadi.
Reported killed
According to Deutsche Presse-AgenturDeutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH is a news agency founded in 1949 in Germany. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is available in German, English, Spanish, and Arabic.The DPA...
unconfirmed Pakistani intelligence sources reported Hammadi killed in a CIA drone strike inside Pakistan in June 2010. Other sources dispute this.
Hammadi is still listed as "Wanted" on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists website.