US wants to try Lebanese hijacker

The US said today it wants Lebanon to turn over a man convicted in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner who was recently released from a German prison.

The US wants to prosecute Mohammed Ali Hamadi in the killing of a US Navy diver, Robert Dean Stethem, during the hijacking. Hamadi, who had been serving a life sentence in Germany, had been paroled.

“We have demonstrated over the years that when we believe an individual is responsible for the murder of innocent American civilians, that we will track them down and that we will bring them to justice in the US,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

He said the US is talking with the Lebanese government about Hamadi, but the issue has been complicated because the US does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon.

McCormack said the US sought jurisdiction over Hamadi after he was arrested and over the years has repeatedly sought to have him tried in the US.