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

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Body:  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