West Germany Chipping Away At Terrorism

By William R. Doerner

The West gained a bit more ground last week in its fight against the scourge of terrorism. In a high-security courtroom in Frankfurt, Mohammed Ali Hammadi faced the most damaging testimony yet in his two-month-old trial for the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the murder of a U.S. Navy diver. In Beirut, meanwhile, West German Businessman Rudolf Cordes, kidnaped 20 months ago as a direct result of Hammadi's capture, was suddenly released. Thus Bonn, which had unwittingly put its citizens at risk because a terrorist happened to fall into its hands, could breathe easier, and with a measure of satisfaction.

Hammadi was arrested 19 months after the TWA hijacking for trying to smuggle liquid explosives through Frankfurt's international airport. Within a few days, fellow members of a Shi'ite subsect believed to have links with the radical, pro-Iranian Hizballah (Party of God) kidnaped Cordes and Alfred Schmidt, another West German, as bargaining chips for Hammadi's release. Bonn refused any such deal but turned down a U.S. request for Hammadi's extradition.

Schmidt was set free a year ago, reportedly after his employer, the Siemens electric company, paid up to $10 million in ransom. The weekly magazine Stern said last week that a mysterious detective involved in Schmidt's release had also been negotiating on behalf of Cordes' company, the Frankfurt chemical firm Hoechst AG. The company labeled that claim "outrageous."

The most dramatic testimony in Hammadi's trial last week came from John Testrake, 60, the American pilot who won praise for his steady conduct throughout the 17-day ordeal of Flight 847. Hammadi admitted in early August that he was one of the plane's two armed hijackers. Testrake not only confirmed this but also presented the most direct evidence so far that Hammadi committed the onboard murder of U.S. Navy Diver Robert Stethem, whose body was dumped onto the Beirut airport tarmac.

The killing, Testrake testified, took place during negotiations between airport authorities and the other hijacker over refueling the aircraft. Prosecutors have identified him as Hassan Izz-al-Din, a Lebanese who remains at large. "The hijacker began screaming into the radio," said Testrake. "He turned to his accomplice and screamed ((in Arabic)) what sounded like an order." According to Testrake, Hammadi pulled Stethem, who had been bound and beaten unconscious, to his feet and out of Testrake's view. "I heard a single pistol shot, and then the other hijacker screamed at me to tell the tower that one passenger had been shot."

Flight Engineer Benjamin Zimmermann, 48, told of accompanying Hammadi to inspect the aircraft's exterior while it was on the tarmac in Algiers a few hours later. "Hammadi pointed to the door and the blood((stains)) running from the sill," said Zimmermann. "He made gestures to the pistol and himself . . . indicating that he was proud of his gun and himself for causing this." Hammadi repeated his denials that he had killed Stethem.

The first sign of a break in the hostage case was the publication of a handwritten note from Cordes to a Beirut newspaper announcing, "I am supposed to be released today." Cordes was dropped off in southern Beirut and then taken to Damascus, where he was reunited with his wife Marlene. The release - was a personal triumph for West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. He has carefully tended his country's diplomatic channels with Iran, which has influence with Hizballah. Said Genscher: "The affair shows that quiet diplomacy, often criticized as softness, has brought more success than loud protest."

With reporting by James Graff/Frankfurt