BERLIN, Dec. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The German authorities confirmed on Tuesday the release of a Hezbollah member who had been serving a life sentence in prison in the country for hijacking a jet of Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1985.

    A spokeswoman for the Frankfurt prosecutor's office confirmed that Mohammed Ali Hamadi, wanted by the United States for killing a U.S. Navy diver, was released from jail last Thursday, the German news agency DPA reported.

    The timing raised speculation that his release was connected with that of German archeologist and aid worker Susanne Osthoff by Iraqi kidnappers on Sunday, but a German Foreign Office spokesman denied it.

    The German Justice Ministry said it had never received an extradition request from the U.S. side for Lebanese-born Hamadi, adding that being sentenced to life imprisonment did not mean that he was condemned to spend the whole of his life in detention.

    Hamadi was among the gunmen who hijacked the TWA flight in Beirut in June 1985. He confessed to having helped conduct the 17-day hijacking to demand the release of 700 Lebanese detainees held by Israel, but denied killing American Robert Dean Stethem during the hijacking.

    He was sentenced to life without parole by a German court and served 19 years of his sentence.

    Hamadi's release disappointed the United States where prosecutors had indicted him for the murder of 23-year-old Stethem.

    "We are disappointed by the fact that he was released before the end of his sentence," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. He vowed that the United States will make every effort to see that this individual faces justice on its territory. Enditem