State Department Acts Against Hezbollah & PIJ Terrorists, Sends Signals to Lebanon & Germany

By Andrew Cochran

Secretary of State Rice today added Mohammed Ali Hamadei and Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, leaders in Hezbollah, and PIJ, respectively, to the U.S. State Department Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program, each with a potential reward of up to $5 million. According to the State Department announcement, Hamadei and Shallah were added at the request of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, and both are already on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List. These additions are long overdue and send a strong signal to Lebanon and to Europe that the U.S. is serious about pursuing leaders in both groups.

The two are veteran terrorists and leaders in their groups. A federal grand jury indicted Hamadei on 15 charges in 1985 for his role in planning and participating in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in Beirut, which resulted in the murder of Petty Officer Robert D. Stethem of the U.S. Navy. Shallah, Secretary-General and leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad since 1985, is one of founders. He has been a Specially Designated Terrorist in the U.S. since 1995 pursuant to Executive Order 12947, and was indicted on 53 counts in U.S. court in Florida in 2003 for racketeering activities such as bombings, murder, extortions and money laundering as part of the Sami al-Arian case (see Bill West's post on that verdict).

The action against Hamadei should receive special attention in Germany, since the government there secretly released him in December 2005 in a unique act of cowardice and weakness, and Hamadei fled to Lebanon. Michael Kraft, who was involved in U.S. government actions pertaining to the 1985 attack as a State Department official, posted when Germany released Hamadei about the machinations of the German government. Later, when it became apparent that the Lebanese government would not hand Hamadei over to the U.S., Michael posted on the possible punishment which the Bush Administration could take, but probably would not, against Lebanon.

Pictures of Shallah and Hamadei (FBI)

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