Q. When is a life sentence in prison not really a life sentence?
A. When politics plays a part in the fate of convicted terrorists.
Terrorist Mohammad Ali Hammadi, convicted of killing Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem in Beirut during the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight and sentenced to life in prison in Germany. He was just released after serving 18 years and quietly flown to Lebanon.
He was wanted by United states government wanted him extradited for the murder of Robert Dean Stethem. But Germany did not comply as their law does not allow a convicted criminal to be charged again with the same crime, especially when the death penalty is involved. Mohammad Ali Hammadi could have faced the death penalty if convicted in a U.S. Court
This sends a powerful message to potential terrorists that if convicted of terrorism in any country besides U.S. you can almost expect to be released in due time, as a life sentence does not really mean a lifetime in prison.
But there are even exceptions in our country of terrorists who did not complete their "life" sentences and were sent free, completely pardon for their violent and deadly crimes.
In 1954, four terrorists members of the FALN stormed the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five congressmen. They were granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
In the days before he left office, former President Bill Clinton pardoned sixteen members of the FALN organization. These men belonged to a Puerto Rican freedom terrorist group, which was responsible for planting over 130 bombs in public places in the U.S. They killed six people and injured seventy.
Therefore, a potential terrorist need not fear of a real life sentence. But they may give second thoughts if the death sentance would be passed on them. There is no release from death.
See: Germany releases terrorist who murdered an American Navy diver
I saw the father of victim interviewed and it’s inconceivable that Germany could have done this.