$5 Million Price Tags for Two Top Terrorists

Email

Print

Share

February 13, 2007 9:41 AM

The State Department added Mohammed Ali Hamadei, 42, and Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, 49, to its Rewards for Justice program, which pays for information leading to the capture of America's top terror targets.

Hamadei, an alleged Hezbollah member believed to be residing in Lebanon, had been indicted in the U.S. on 15 counts for planning and participation in the June 14, 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847.

The hijacking was a dramatic act of terrorism as the plane full of hostages traveled between Mediterranean airports for 17 days. The charges from that act include murder of Navy Petty Officer Robert Stethem, aircraft piracy, hostage tacking, assault and conspiracy.

Hamadei had been arrested by German authorities in 1987 and was convicted of the hijacking. In 2005, however, after serving just 19 years of his life sentence, he was paroled and sent back to Lebanon, despite protests by the United States government that he be sent to the U.S. for trial.

Shallah is one of the founders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, based in Damascus, Syria and is wanted for various terrorist and illicit fundraising charges related to the group.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

The United States government considers Palestinian Islamic Jihad a terrorist organization. He took over as the group's Secretary General in 1995 after his predecessor was assassinated and was designated a "Specially Designated Terrorist" by the U.S. that same year.

Shallah was indicted on 53 counts by the U.S. District Court in Florida's Middle District in 2003.

Both men are already on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List, and the FBI warns both should be considered armed and dangerous.

The Rewards for Justice program has so far paid out over $62 million to more than 40 people since its establishment in 1984. Rewards for top terrorists like Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahri are up to $25 million.