Diver's killer set free in Lebanon

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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 and fatally shooting Petty Officer 2nd Class Stethem, who was 23 when he was killed.

"What I can assure anybody who's listening, including Mr. Hamadi, is that we will track him down, we will find him, and we will bring him to justice in the United States for what he's done," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"We will make every effort, working with the Lebanese authorities or whomever else, to see that he faces trial for the murder of Mr. Stethem," he said.

Attempts to bring Hamadi to the United States are complicated because the United States and Lebanon do not have an extradition treaty.

Mr. McCormack and other U.S. officials would not rule out using force to achieve their goal if diplomacy fails. They cited past cases of foreigners who were forcefully brought to the United States to stand trial.

"We saw that with the person responsible for the murder of an American citizen, Mr. Klinghoffer," Mr. McCormack said on Tuesday in reference to Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled New Yorker who was shot in his wheelchair on a cruise ship in 1985 and thrown overboard while still alive.

"We tracked that person down and we brought them to justice in the United States," he said. "It doesn't matter how long it takes, but we will track them down and they will face justice in the United States."

The mastermind of Mr. Klinghoffer's murder, Mohammed Abbas, was captured in 2003 near Baghdad and died in custody 11 months later of what the Pentagon called "natural causes."