Did Germany release a terrorist to free a hostage?

Susanne Osthoff, a German archaeologist, was kidnapped in Iraq in late November.

She was released this past Sunday.

In a troubling parallel development, though, last Thursday, three days before Osthoff was released, Germany had paroled a Hezbollah terrorist wanted by the US for the murder of US Navy diver Robert Stethem.

Mohammed Hamadei was arrested in Frankfurt in January 1987 for trying to smuggle liquid explosives into Germany. He was sentenced to life in prison. However, even then Germany may have danced with the devil. According to this report,

Mohammad Ali Hamadei, a Lebanese Shiite Moslem accused of participating in the hijacking of the United States TWA flight 847 and the subsequent murder of a United States navy diver on that flight, was arrested at a Frankfurt airport when he was discovered to be carrying three bottles of liquid plastic explosive. The United States immediately requested his extradition.

West Germany had every intention of complying until the Hizbollah, the terrorist organization Hamadei belonged to, kidnapped Rudolf Cordes, a West German manager of the Hoechst firm. West Germany arrested Hamadei's brother in retaliation. The Hizbollah then kidnapped Siemen's engineer Alfred Schmidt, an important member of the business community. West Germany bowed under the pressure and not only paid a large ransom for Schmidt's return, but agreed not to extradite Hamadei to the United States and promised he would face only a moderate prison term.

Was Mohammed Hamadei released last Thursday in exchange for the release of Osthoff? I don't think that is clear. The fact he was released on the day of the Iraqi elections, when all the world's attention was on the voters, may be an indication Germany was trying to slip this through quietly. And if the two events are related, perhaps Osthoff was not also released on Thursday because vehicle traffic was shut down because of the elections.

However, Hamadei has been considered for parole before. As Debbie Schlussel points out, last June parole had come up. (Don't miss her comments on this story, too.)

In fact, in 2001 Hamadei was considered for parole.

This report from Stern says (excuse my rough German translation skills):

The court found a "minimum completion duration", and Hamadi served his punishment on this basis.
...
According to the national Ministry of Justice in Wiesbaden, the regional court in Kleve made the decision to release [Hamadei].

For what it's worth, German authorities say the release had nothing to do with Osthoff, and that the timing was coincidental.

I haven't yet been able to find the details on the case, and I don't know much about the German legal system, but if he was paroled, I'd bet the decision was made before Osthoff was kidnapped. I doubt the German court could move so quick and make a decision to parole Hamadi in response to the Osthoff kidnapping. Such a move would be blatant.

The fact Hamadei was released last Thursday may very well not be directly related to the release of Osthoff. Germany may have been trying to buy protection for other German citizens.

German media have reports that a ransom may have been paid for Osthoff. (See here and here.)

This Stern report has the chairman of the Central Council of the Muslims, Nadeem Elyas, saying two groups were involved. The first kidnapped Osthoff and "sold" her to the second group.

I don't know if this is true, but such arrangements are not that uncommon in Iraq. Kidnapping for money is a well-established way for criminals and terrorists to get cash.

There are two more significant considerations to keep in mind. First, it is puzzling why Germany would throw cold water on its relationship with the United States at this point. Merkel just won a tough election. Under Schroeder, relations with the US were at an ebb, and Merkel campaigned on the hopes of at least improving those relations. Would Germany harm relations with the US to buy back one hostage? I think it makes more sense if Germany was buying protection from Hezbollah for German citizens across the Middle East. Perhaps Germany is reacting to recent news of secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe.

Second, it would be something of no small import if Hezbollah, a Shiite terrorist group and the client of Iran, had ties to the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. I don't know anything about the group that held Osthoff, but I would guess they were Sunnis. Certainly Iran is a chief sponsor of terrorism, and has been quietly involved in Iraq, but it would be a change if Hezbollah was involved in the kidnapping of Westerners in Iraq, and making such demands of Germany. Possible, yes, but not the only explanation here. It is entirely likely Germany paid a ransom, if not directly from the government then through intermediaries. (And they wouldn't be the first Euros to do so.)

I don't think we know the whole story here, but I think it is too soon to say this was as simple as Germany trading Hamadei for Osthoff.

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Others commenting on this story are Michelle Malkin and Captain Ed.

Davids Medienkritik links to a lively State Dept briefing today on the matter