The public prosecutor has imposed a news blackout on the pretrial investigation of suspected Palestinian terrorist Mohammed Rashid, who has been implicated in the 1982 bombing of a Pan American jet airliner over the Pacific.
Judicial sources said last week that publication has been banned of all testimony and documents related to the investigation.
The orders were issued jointly by Eleftherios Moisidis, the public prosecutor, and Aspacia Karellou, the investigating magistrate, the sources said.
The ban is permitted by a 1938 law that prohibits the publication of witness testimony or any related documents while an investigation is in progress, in order to preserve confidentiality and protect the rights of the accused.
Rashid, said to be 34, has been charged with premeditated murder, planting explosives, causing an explosion and illegal activities on an airliner. The bombing resulted in the death of a Japanese teen-age passenger and injuries to 15 other passengers.
The United States had repeatedly asked for his extradition.
But Justice Minister Athanassios Kanello Poulas announced in September that Rashid would be tried in Greece in accordance with local legislation and the 1971 Montreal Convention, which permits people charged with terrorist acts against aircraft to be tried in the country holding them.
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