Free Republic

Syrian anti-ISIS activist who blogged about terrible conditions in Raqqa is found decapitated in Turkey alongside beheaded corpse of his friend *** The beheaded bodies of a Syrian activist opposed to the Islamic State group and his friend were found early Friday in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa. Ibrahim Abdul Qader, 20, and his friend Fares Hamadi were found beheaded at home this morning. The shocking news was confirmed by Abu Mohammad, a founder of the 'Raqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently' group, who posted the news on social media. The activist group, which documents abuses in areas under IS...

MIR ALI: A suspected US missile strike killed 13 people Saturday in a Pakistani tribal region where several militant outfits are bent on attacking Western troops across the Afghan border, officials said. The missile, apparently fired from an unmanned drone, struck a house in Haider Khel village near North Waziristan's Mir Ali town, said two intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media on the record. Local government official Noor Mohammad said at least 13 people had been killed, while the intelligence officials said some foreigners were among the dead. Their...

Hizballah terrorist Mohammed Ali Hamadi, convicted in Germany of murdering US Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem aboard a hijacked airplane but freed last December in a probable ransom exchange for German hostage Susanne Osthoff (Germany denies this, of course), has rejoined Hizballah. Imagine my surprise.

Here are two items on different topics related by their common absurdity.Reuters is reporting that some of the ransom money paid for the German government for the release of Susan Osthoff (the archaeologist who was kidnapped by Iraqi militants and later released in exchange for Mohammad Ali Hammadi, the man who killed Navy diver Robert Stethem in a hijacked TWA flight) was found on her effects. (Hat tip: Davids Medienkritik) BERLIN (Reuters) - Part of the ransom money alleged to have been paid by the German government to win the freedom of Iraq hostage Susanne Osthoff last month was found...

Dedicated to the memory of SW2/(DV) Robert Dean Stethem and all the other victims of terrorism today. We believe that it is important to remember the victims and to honor their memories in order to strengthen our national resolve and our commitment to actively seek out, fight and destroy Terrorist(s) and Terrorism wherever we find it.

I have a suggestion: How 'bout if we ship all these guys, unflushed Korans and all, to Germany? Maybe 72 Virgin Air would cut us a deal. Then you -- Germany -- can parole them to Lebanon. That, of course, is just what you did just before Christmas with Mohammad Ali Hammadi, the convicted Hezbollah killer of Petty Officer Robert Dean Stethem. In case you didn't know, Mr. Stethem is one of our American heroes, a courageous young Navy diver who became an early casualty of the war on Islamic terror. In 1985, at age 23, he was beaten to...

Jewish World Review Jan. 10, 2006 / 10 Teves, 5766 ‘Justice Will Be Done’: Remembering Navy diver who was brutally tortured and murdered by freed Hezbollah terrorist By Michael Ledeen http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | This is a letter from Kenneth Stethem to President George W. Bush. Ken is a former U.S. special-forces operator and the brother of Robert Dean Stethem, the Navy diver who was brutally tortured and murdered by Hezbollah 20 years ago. Robert's murderer was just released by the German government (and fled to Lebanon) in an apparent exchange for a German hostage in Iraq. The administration has falsely claimed...

Patrick and Katherine Stethem have forsaken their quiet life in a Loudoun [Virginia] suburb to call for justice. They don't relish the spotlight. But they'll go there if it will get the job done. The job is to get the U.S. government to use its influence to get Mohammed Ali Hamadi into a U.S. courtroom. To get the Lebanese government to turn Hamadi over. To get Hezbollah to assume the mantle of a legitimate political party. It's been 20 years since Hezbollah terrorists – two on a hijacked plane and two on the ground -- murdered Patrick Stethem's older brother,...

AS OFFICIALS in Arnold Schwarzenegger's hometown of Graz, Austria, busied themselves by removing every mention of the movie star and California governor from city sites because he refused to grant clemency to a convicted murderer, next door in Germany a state parole board mysteriously let go another convicted murderer. His victim was a heroic U.S. sailor. Mohammed Ali Hammadi was convicted of killing Robert Dean Stethem, a Navy diver, during a hijacking in Beirut in 1985. A Washington Post editorial recalled a conversation Stethem had with a fellow passenger, a 16-year-old girl, after Hammadi brutally beat Stethem. . . "He...

<p>One of the most enduring images from the early days of the Islamist terrorism scourge is the haunting, now 20-year-old photograph of airline Capt. John Testrake, a gun held to his head by a Hezbollah hijacker, who had clamped his hand over the pilot's mouth.</p>

US vows to track down hijacker freed early By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 23/12/2005) The United States has vowed to track down and bring to trial a Lebanese hijacker who has been secretly released after serving 19 years in a German prison for seizing an airliner in 1985 and killing a US navy diver. The Bush administration said it had asked Germany not to release Mohammed Ali Hamadi, who was jailed for life for his role in the hijacking of TWA's Flight 847 from Athens to Rome and the shooting of one of the passengers, Robert Stethem. Despite...

U.S. officials yesterday said the killer of a U.S. Navy diver had been released from "temporary custody" in Lebanon but refused to rule out bringing him to the United States by force. The Lebanese government criticized Washington's request to hand over Mohammad Ali Hamadi, saying the militant already had served a prison sentence for the 1985 murder of Robert Dean Stethem of Waldorf, Md. Hamadi, a member of the Hezbollah guerrilla group, was taken into custody upon returning to Lebanon after his release from a German prison Thursday. He had served 18 years for hijacking a TWA plane to Beirut...

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales personally asked the German government not to release a terrorist accused of killing a Navy diver, but was rebuffed, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Mohammed Ali Hamadi was freed on parole by German authorities after serving 19 years of a life sentence for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane during which a U.S. Navy diver, Robert Dean Stethem, 23, was killed. The 17-day ordeal riveted the United States and brought Middle East terrorism home for many Americans. "We did, at senior levels at the U.S. government, contact the German authorities to emphasize that...

KEHL AM RHEIN, Germany (UPI) -- Freeing a Hezbollah member sentenced to life in prison for killing a U.S. Navy Diver may turn into yet another setback for the trans-Atlantic friendship German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to strengthen. Mohammad Ali Hammadi last Thursday left his prison in North-Rhine Westphalia after a parole board and psychologists decided he was eligible for early release. A U.S. State Department spokesman on Tuesday said Washington was \'disappointed\' by the development. Hammadi served nearly 19 years in prison for his involvement in the 1985 hijacking of a U.S. TWA passenger plane and the brutal...

Gonzales Asked Germany to Hold Hijacker Wednesday December 21, 2005 11:16 PM By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales personally asked the German government not to release a terrorist accused of killing a Navy diver, but was rebuffed, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Mohammed Ali Hamadi was freed on parole by German authorities after serving 19 years of a life sentence for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane during which a U.S. Navy diver was killed. The 17-day ordeal riveted the United States and brought Middle East terrorism home for many Americans. ``We...

Paroled TWA Hijacker Returns to Lebanon Tuesday, December 20, 2005 BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Lebanese man serving a life sentence in Germany for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner and killing of a U.S. Navy diver has returned to Lebanon after being paroled in Germany, security and guerrilla officials said Tuesday. Mohammed Ali Hamadi arrived in Beirut four days ago on a commercial flight from Germany, a Lebanese security official and a Hezbollah guerrilla group said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

In June, we wrote about the 20th anniversary of hijacking of TWA flight 847 and murder of Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem by Hezbollah terrorists.Stethem was a true American hero. Only 23 years old, he was tortured, beaten, and trampled to death by the Hezbollah terrorists for the crimes of being an American, a U.S. serviceman, and refusing--to his last breath--to denounce America. We're sad to report that yet another prediction of ours has now come true. We predicted in June that Mohammad Ali Hamadi, one of the Hezbollah terrorists who murdered Stethem, would be released by the German government....

Man Was Serving Life Sentence For Hijacking, Killing German authorities have paroled convicted terrorist Mohammed Ali Hamadi after he served 19 years of a life sentence for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner and the killing of a U.S. Navy diver, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.

TWA Hijacker Released From German Prison The Associated Press Tuesday, December 20, 2005; 8:51 AM BERLIN -- A Lebanese man serving a life sentence for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner and killing of a U.S. Navy diver has been paroled after 19 years, a law enforcement official said Tuesday. Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released from prison and has left Germany, said Doris Moeller-Scheu, spokeswoman for the Frankfurt prosecutor's office. She said she did not know his destination. Hamadi's case came up for a court-mandated review, and he was released after an expert assessment and a hearing, she said....

BAGHDAD, Aug 20 (Reuters) - An Iraqi general who commands the country's Border Police was shot and wounded while driving in Baghdad late on Saturday but U.S. forces denied that it was American troops who fired on his car. Major General Ali Hamadi was initially taken to the civilian Yarmouk hospital, where a medical source said he told doctors who treated him for an abdominal wound that he had been shot by U.S. soldiers. Sources at police headquarters, who like Hamadi report to the Interior Ministry, gave a similar account. But a spokesman for the U.S. military command in...