Posted on 12/20/2005 7:10:50 AM PST by minus_273
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- A Hezbollah militant sentenced to life in Germany for murdering a U.S. Navy diver during the 1985 hijacking of a U.S. jetliner has been freed, officials said.
The German government denied on Tuesday the release was related to the freeing of a German hostage in Iraq.
Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released Thursday and allowed to return to his native Lebanon on the next day, after qualifying for parole after 19 years in prison, said Ulrich Hermanski, spokesman for the North Rhine Wesphalia state justice ministry.
"There was no special treatment," Hermanski said in a telephone interview.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Simple: the state of Hesse and not the federal level is responsible for the release. And anybody knowing Germany isn´t wondering about 19 years imprisonment for murder (see post 105). It´s obvious that there´s no connection to the Iraq hostage case.
Wow, a really civilized behaviour. What actually are you defending in the WOT? Your life, your family? Ok, but surely not what we use to call "western values".
His brother Kenneth was a SEAL. I hope they will enact some form of justice for this pig...
Ed
I´m German. And I know that jailtime between 15 and 18 years are usual for murder. So 19 years for Hammadi were above the average. It´s obvious that there´s no connection with the hostage in Iraq. And if you don´t believe a "Kraut", read post #105.
There is a old German saying: Different countries - different customs. (Andere Länder - andere Sitten)
It is common in Germany to release people after 15-20 years that would have been executed in the US. Our justice did that i.e. with the former RAF-members (a German leftist terrorist group that killed many of our compatriots). Our justice still doing it with all kinds of murderers and offenders.
Therefore it was a quite normal act to our authorities. The timing of course was complete BS.
BTW - as far as I know your executive is also bound to the valid law in the US. They have good reason not to break any legal rules. Your administration had to create such a place like Gitmo and laws like the "patriot act" to get rid of the bothering US-justice and its wide possibilities for offenders. Since Germany is no participant of the WOT of President Bush, we do not have such "infrastructure" to neutralize our legal system. Furthermore is Germany no banana republic where a "leader" can keep prisoners in a dungeon due to foreign pressure without any leagal backing. If Germany would do that it would be a real sign of weakness.
Personally I do not think that this man ever should have gone free, but we have a justice system that I and all my other compatriots have to respect. Therefore I and other Germans who take part in this discussion are in a difficult situation to argue.
I suspect you also believe in the tooth fairy, too.....
I'm an unapologetic cynic, and I see this as a snatch of a German citizen to ASSURE the earliest possible release of a murderous Jihadist -- or Germany simply attempting to show their cooperation with their fellow Jew Hating Muslim sand Nazis..
This was NOT a serendipitous coincidence.
Semper Fi
The earliest possible release of this guy would have been after 15 years to my knowlege.
Ah yes, Winston Churchill who said: "We slaughtered the wrong pig" and that the mass expulsion and killings of Germans from eastern Europe and East Prussia at the end and following WWII was the greatest human tragedy of modern times...Of course, he was also the man who planned to bombard Germany's largest cities with anthrax.
"Advance to Barbarism" and "'Twas A Famous Victory" are two good books to read regarding the dark side of our "Crusade in Europe," not that they'd necessarily interest you but they might others reading this thread.
Well said. By the way, Germany's contribution to the coalition in Afghanistan is greatly appreciated by this American. Please keep posting away; your comments are always a tonic, and patently called for.
What a crock of Sauerkraut. We didn't invent GTMO to circumvent our legal system. Never in our history have we given "PRISONERS OF WAR" even illegal combatants acces to our legal system. If I'm not mistaken, Germany is no different. Ever heard of Stalag 13.
And no one gives a crap if Germany wants to let killers and terrorist go free to buy themselves another day or two before the terrorist turn on them, but if this wasn't giving into the terrorist, Germany could have extradited the piece of filth.
I would love to hear how the Germans decided this piece of shit was no longer a "threat to the public"....
Does that apply only to the German "public", or the "public" that Americans and Jews live in?
Germany, along with France - has become a real piece of work.....
Germans must be aware that many see them as just a little too cozy with the Jew killing sand Nazis of Islam.....
Semper Fi
Sempre Fi...well said
Ah yes....but the Islamanazis didn't have a German hostage until just recently -- did they?
Coincidence? I doubt it....
Trust is hard to come by, when an "ally" behaves predictably counter to ones best interests or national security.....
Semper Fi
Germany could have extradited the piece of filth.
This would be simply impossible. Just take a look at my #80.
If you do not trust me than maybe you trust your own compatriots. Take a look a #105.
Ah, understood.
It is not Western values to free a terrorist murderer (for the release of a German hostage or not).
Anyone who does is NOT a follower of Western values. Furthermore, the old standard of explaining why that was wrong is no longer working vis a vis Europe. The European 'elite' simply blows off our warnings as nonsense spoken by a 'stupid' American.
Because of such an attitude, actions now need to replace words.
And while I've not been to Iraq/Afganistan, I came back from serving three years in South Korea in January.
Should this have happened regarding a South Korean and Japan, the South Koreans would have been rioting both in Japan and South Korea, Japanese fishing boats would be impounded on the flimsy-ist of charges, and the South Korean government would have summoned the Japanese embassador for a formal rebuke/withdrawn the South Korean embassador from Japan.
Not to mention some random lynching of Japanese tourists in South Korea. Heck, they do all this for any perceived failure for the Japanese to be sufficiently contrite over their actions in WWII.
Well, then please write off WHOLE EUROPE (INCL. BRITAIN). It´s usual that killers are released after serving their time in prison, which is around 15-25 years, and only very seldom really for life. You don´t have to tell me that the individual life has a lesser value in Asia than in Europe. It´s cultural.
A) In Europe there is no such thing as life without parole. B) An average inmate who has been sentenced for so-called life very often serves less than 15 years in the EU. F.ex. in Sweden the average duration of "life" is 8 years. Remember Marc Dutroux? He will be eligible for parole in less than 10 years if he behaves well.
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