A 65-year-old Lebanese man caught last week in Greece as a suspected hijacker of the 847 TWA flight in 1985 was released on a misidentification case, according to reports released on Tuesday.
The man had landed from a cruise ship in Mykanos on Thursday when he was arrested, Greek police said.
Police did not disclose the suspect’s name, but several Greek media named him as Mohammed Ali Hammadi, the author of the abduction. Lebanese officials said the man was a journalist named Mohamed Ali Saleh.
“In the afternoon (Monday), the German authorities informed us that the relevant German judicial authorities will not seek extradition of the individual because their identification has not been possible and must be released,” Greek police said. Reuters
Hammadi and his three companions killed the US Navy diver. UU Robert Stethem, 23 years old. The hijacking became a terrible 17-day experience for the plane’s 146 passengers and crew who were released in stages for fuel.
Stethem’s older brother Ken Stethem told Fox & Friends on Tuesday that when he read about the arrest, there were discrepancies in the article that “gave me little doubt” that Hammadi had been captured.
Ken Stethem said the kidnappers pointed to his brother when he said he was a United States Navy sailor “with pride and dignity.”
On the second day of the abduction, Robert Stethem was ordered to shout into the microphone “and no sound was heard from him,” his brother said.
“He was shot and thrown from the plane at that time,” said Stethem.
Hammadi was arrested at Frankfurt airport in 1987 for carrying explosives in his luggage.
The United States sought extradition, but Germany decided to sue Hammadi for the murder of Stethem, hostage taking and kidnapping, the FBI said. Following his conviction in 1989, Hammadi was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 2005, however, he was released after 19 years in prison and returned to Beirut.
He remains one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists.