Alleged Hizbullah Terrorist (Mohammed Ali Hamadi) Update

Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) issued an open letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday, urging her to formally request Lebanese assistance to “immediately arrest and extradite to the United States Mohammed Ali Hammadi.”^[1] The letter comes on the back of a German court’s decision release Mr. Hamadi early from prison having served nineteen years on charges related to air piracy and murder of an American citizen. Though, as noted previously, no formal extradition treaty in fact exists between the United States and Lebanon, other options remain at that government’s disposal, namely through an informal “irregular” rendition or (though this may prove particularly difficult because Mr. Hamadi is a Lebanese citizen) some form of expulsion. Though tried and convicted in a German court for the murder of an American citizen, no double-jeopardy provision precludes the American government from doing the same.



[1] Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Jim DeMint, Letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, January 10, 2006. Available online here. Outrage was previously expressed by Sen. Barbara Mikulski in a letter to Sec. Rice over a German court’s decision to release Mr. Hamadi early here.