Two days after the Lebanese hostage-taker and murderer Hamadi was released from prison in Frankfurt the German archeologist Susanne Osthoff was set free by her captives in Iraq. Immediately the German Bush-Blogs and Hate-Blogs accused the German government of making a deal with the terrorists to secure Osthoff’s release. Officials in Berlin denied that any deal took place, and the state prosecutor in Hessen insisted that the release was part of a routine review process: Hammadi had served 19 of a 25-year sentence and was eligible for parole. Today the Associated Press reports that the US Depts. of Justice attempted to intervene in Hammadi’s release:
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales personally asked the German government not to release a terrorist convicted in the killing of a Navy diver, but was rebuffed, the Bush administration said yesterday.
Mohammed Ali Hamadi was freed on parole by German authorities after serving 19 years of a life sentence for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane during which the diver was killed.
The 17-day ordeal riveted the United States and brought Middle East terrorism home for many Americans.
”We did, at senior levels at the US government, contact the German authorities to emphasize that we thought it was important that he serve out his entire term, but we did so with a full understanding that under German law it was highly likely that he was going to be released," State Department Sean McCormack said.
And The Financial Times Deutschland has details about Colin Powell’s direct appeals to ex-foreign minister Joschka Fischer:
Wie die FTD aus Justizkreisen erfuhr, arbeitete die US-Regierung schon seit Jahren daran, eine Entlassung Hamadis zu verhindern. So intervenierte der damalige US-Außenminister Colin Powell 2001 bei seinem Amtskollegen Joschka Fischer, um eine vorzeitige Haftentlassung Hamadis abzuwenden. Damals musste die deutsche Justiz darüber befinden, ob Hamadi nach 15 Jahren entlassen und abgeschoben wird. Fischer äußerte in seiner Antwort an Powell Verständnis für dessen Sorgen. Die Bedenken der US-Regierung habe man auch dem Gericht übermittelt, das über eine Haftverlängerung entscheiden sollte. Auf Antrag der Staatsanwaltschaft verwarfen die Richter daraufhin Anträge zur Entlassung des Libanesen. Stattdessen wurde eine Mindestverbüßdauer von 19 Jahren festgelegt, die vor wenigen Tagen ablief.
So the timing of Hamadi’s and Osthoff’s release was purely coincidental. Still, the refusal to cooperate with Gonzales and Powell may reflect the poor image that the US legal system has in Germany in the wake of the CIA rendition affair, the execution of Tookie Williams, and President Bush’s warrantless surveillance of US citizens. The US under President Bush has proven over and over that it has nothing but contempt for international law, so what is the upside of cooperating?
