Mohammed and Abbas Hamadei, two Lebanese brothers imprisoned in Germany for terrorist acts, recently received visits from family members for the first time since their incarceration.
The visits were among a number of apparent concessions made by Bonn in exchange for the release of two German hostages, Heinrich Strubig and Thomas Kemptner, who were kidnapped in Lebanon three years ago and released this past June.
Kidnappers had demanded the release of the Hamadei brothers as a condition for freeing the German hostages, who were humanitarian aid workers. Germany has denied making any concessions to obtain the hostages’ release, although officials had indicated in June that it was likely the Hamadei brothers would be given special privileges in prison.
The Hamadeis were apprehended separately in January 1987. Mohammed Hamadei is serving a life sentence for the hijacking of a TWA airliner to Beirut in June 1985 and the murder of a U.S. Navy diver, Robert Stethem.
Abbas Hamadei is serving a 13-year term for his role in kidnapping two other Germans, released before the kidnapping of Strubig and Kemptner, in an attempt to free his brother Mohammed.
The Hamadei brothers, who are held in prison in the Saarland, were visited by their parents, a brother and two children.
It is believed the Germans and other Western hostages were held by Hezbollah, and that the Hamadei clan has ties to the Islamic fundamentalist movement.
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