ATHENS, Greece — Greek police said Saturday they have arrested a suspect in the 1985 hijacking of a flight from Athens that became a multi-day ordeal and included the slaying of an American.
Police said a 65-year-old suspect in the hijacking was arrested Thursday on the island of Mykonos in response to a warrant from Germany.
Lt. Col. Theodoros Chronopoulos, a police spokesman, told The Associated Press that the hijacking case involved TWA Flight 847.
The flight was commandeered by hijackers shortly after taking off from Athens on June 14, 1985. It originated in Cairo and had San Diego set as a final destination, with stops scheduled in Athens, Rome, Boston and Los Angeles.
The hijackers shot and killed Steelworker 2nd Class (DV) Robert Stethem, 23, after beating him unconscious.
They released the other 146 passengers and crew members on the plane during an ordeal that included stops in Beirut and Algiers.
The last hostage was freed after 17 days.
The suspect was in custody Saturday on the Greek island of Syros but was set to be transferred to the Korydallos high security prison in Athens for extradition proceedings, a police spokeswoman told The Associated Press.
She said the suspect was a Lebanese citizen. The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.
Police refused to release the suspect's name.
In Beirut, the Foreign Ministry said the man detained in Greece is a Lebanese journalist called Mohammed Saleh, and that a Lebanese embassy official planned to try to visit him on Sunday.
However, several Greek media outlets identified the detainee as Mohammed Ali Hammadi, who was arrested in Frankfurt in 1987 and convicted in Germany for the plane hijacking and Stethem’s slaying.
Hammadi, an alleged Hezbollah member, was sentenced to life in prison but was paroled in 2005 and returned to Lebanon.
Germany had resisted pressure to extradite him to the United States after Hezbollah abducted two German citizens in Beirut and threatened to kill them.
Hammadi — along with fellow hijacker Hasan Izz-Al-Din and accomplice Ali Atwa — remains on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists.
The FBI offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to each man’s capture.
News agency dpa reported Saturday that Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment on news reports about the case.
Navy Times editor’s note: On 12 March 1986, the Bronze Star was awarded posthumously to Steel Worker 2nd Class Robert Stethem on behalf of President Ronald Reagan by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman.
The citation:
For heroic achievement on 14 June 1985 while assigned to Detachment November Mike ’85 of Underwater Construction Team One deployed to the Naval Communication Station, Nea Makri, Greece. Petty Officer Stethem displayed exceptional valor and professional integrity while a hostage of militant Shi’ite hijackers of Trans World Airlines Flight 847 at Athens International Airport, Algiers, Algeria and at Beirut, Lebanon. Exhibiting physical, moral, and emotional courage beyond extraordinary limits, Petty Officer Stethem endured a senseless and brutal beating at the hands of his fanatical captors. He drew upon an unwavering inner strength and absorbed the punishment. The hijackers were infuriated by his refusal to succumb, a symbol to them of the strength of the United States of America; and in their cowardly desperation, shot him to death. Petty Officer Stethem’s courage, steadfast determination, and loyal devotion to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
The 13th warship of the Arleigh Burke class of guided-missile destroyers proudly honors his name. The vessel was christened on 16 July 1994 by Patricia L. Stethem, the mother of the slain diver, and commissioned on 21 October 1995.
