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Mohammed Ali Hamadi


Mohammed Ali Hammadi (Arabic: محمد علي حمادي‎), also known as Mohammed Ali Hamadi (born 13 June 1964 in Lebanon) is one of the list of FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists. A Lebanese citizen and alleged member of Hezbollah, he was convicted in a West German court of law of air piracy, murder, and possession of explosives for his part in the 14 June 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847.

Under indictment by US law enforcement for crimes related to the same hijacking, during which one passenger, U.S. Navy Seabee diver Robert Stethem, 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 for 19 years, but was paroled in 2005. He is considered a fugitive by the United States Department of Justice, which listed him as one of the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists in 2006. He is believed to reside in Lebanon.

There has been speculation that his parole was granted as part of a covert prisoner swap, in exchange for the release of Susanne Osthoff. Taken hostage in Iraq a month prior, Osthoff was released the week of Hammadi's parole.

Two years after the TWA Flight 847 attack, Hammadi was arrested in Frankfurt, West Germany, in 1987 while attempting to smuggle liquid explosives. The United States immediately requested his extradition but Hizbullah immediately abducted two West Germans in Beirut, and threatened to kill them if Hamadei were extradited. Then it was decided to try Hamadei in West Germany. 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.


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