Ah the German legal system...

[The n00b]

This isn't playing on an earlier thread but I just read about this in an editorial in my city's newspaper this morning. How the hell do guys like this just get off? If Germany wasn't interested in pursuing justice, why didn't they honor the extradition request by the U.S.?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/12 ... index.html

I seriously hope the U.S. has an assasination squad going after this guy because he seems like a lifelong loser who will strike again.

[Super Laydock]

How the hell do guys like this just get off?

Actually 19 years in prison isn't quite the same as "just getting off".
It's not like he is a serial killer or has been extraordianrily brutal, so that might have weighed in on the decision for the release.
Whether it was a suitable punishment in this particular case is another question...

If Germany wasn't interested in pursuing justice, why didn't they honor the extradition request by the U.S.?

Though I do not know of concrete reasons I could imagine it have to do with either the US and Germany not having a treaty to extradite people/prisoners.
If that's not an issue than the fact that a lot of countries who do not have the death penalty won't extradite to countries who do have the death penalty might have something to with it.


There are bigger/more dangerous assholes in the world (Zarqawi/Mugabe for instance) than this guy and thus they'd better spent money and bullets on those people.

[D]

This thread reminds me of an undercover CIA agent persuading a Dutch non-criminal into smugling, then he gets busted and the US wants to extradict him to the US.


Errrrr.
1 He is not a criminal, but someone who can be manipulated into criminal activities.

2 He got persuaded into smuggling by an undercover US agent

3 Then they want to extradite him to the the US



How come you never hear about that?

Why does the US look for criminals outside the US who are not even criminals to begin with.

Like the US doesn't have enough problems of its own they try to see who can persuaded in the netherlands to criminal activity then try to get him convicted by the us system in the us.

Is the US looking for more criminals?
Are the prisons that empty?

Sounds like a great idea to me.

[The n00b]

How the hell do guys like this just get off?

Actually 19 years in prison isn't quite the same as "just getting off".
It's not like he is a serial killer or has been extraordianrily brutal, so that might have weighed in on the decision for the release.
Whether it was a suitable punishment in this particular case is another question...

If Germany wasn't interested in pursuing justice, why didn't they honor the extradition request by the U.S.?

Though I do not know of concrete reasons I could imagine it have to do with either the US and Germany not having a treaty to extradite people/prisoners.
If that's not an issue than the fact that a lot of countries who do not have the death penalty won't extradite to countries who do have the death penalty might have something to with it.


There are bigger/more dangerous assholes in the world (Zarqawi/Mugabe for instance) than this guy and thus they'd better spent money and bullets on those people.

What really bothers me is that this guy was caught while trying to carry explosives on another airliner. That tells me that this guy is one of those people that will keep trying to perform terrorist acts until he is caught. Then again maybe he found god in prison?

[Damocles]

It's not like he is a serial killer or has been extraordianrily brutal, so that might have weighed in on the decision for the release.

From the article:

"Hamadi was convicted in 1989 in Frankfurt, Hessen state, for the beating and shooting of Robert Dean Stethem, a 23-year-old U.S. Navy diver whose body was thrown on the tarmac at Beirut airport during the hijacking of TWA Flight 847."

.....during a hijacking. The dude is Hezbollah.

[Super Laydock]

It's not like he is a serial killer or has been extraordianrily brutal, so that might have weighed in on the decision for the release.

From the article:

"Hamadi was convicted in 1989 in Frankfurt, Hessen state, for the beating and shooting of Robert Dean Stethem, a 23-year-old U.S. Navy diver whose body was thrown on the tarmac at Beirut airport during the hijacking of TWA Flight 847."

.....during a hijacking. The dude is Hezbollah.

So? A hijacking itself is a lot less serious crime than murder in all countries I know off. The (as far as we can figure from the articles info) only reason for conviction was the abuse and shooting of this diver.

19 Years for a single killing (possibly not a murder in the legal sense too) is not a sentence that can be classified as ridiculously low in most (if not all) civilized judicial systems. It's not like he got away with it ("just got off").

Also, if true, the single fact that he is a Hezbollah member/sympathysant doesn't add more weight to this crime in a way that ought to have meant a radically more severe punishment.
And that's from someone who despises terrorist acts from organisations like Hezbollah as much as most other people.

[The n00b]

The American diver was tortured, shot to death, and then his body was coldly thrown on the tarmac. The other passengers in the plane later related how they heard the American diver constantly screaming.... These guys were scum and they got away, all except for one... This terrorist was caught by German authorities trying to carry explosives on another airline.

The German legal system gave this guy a life sentence with the possibility of parole over the objections of the American gov. The American government knew there was the strong possibility that this guy would somehow get parole and then he would strike again. It is the reason that this guy would have been put to death in the U.S. He commited a brutal crime, has no remorse for his actions, and has shown himself to be a repeat offender. That earns you deathrow but it only earned this guy a short stay in a german prison.

Many people have also found it suspicious that this guy was released shortly after the release of a German hostage in Iraq....

[GaijinPunch]

How come you never hear about that?

Sounds extremely conspiracy theory-ish. Not saying it's not true, but there are at least two sides to every story.

Why does the US look for criminals outside the US who are not even criminals to begin with.

Same reason DEA has to allow a decent flow of drugs into the country. If they don't, they don't have a job.

Slightly OT, but did anyone go so Munich? I had no clue the German police were the ones that completely fucked the whole thing up.

[Michaelm]

Then again maybe he found god in prison?

God or Allah is probably the or a reason for his crimes.