Greek authorities are refusing to extradite a Palestinian arrested here last week for alleged participation in two fatal aerial hijackings involving American commercial aircraft, U.S. Justice Department sources said Tuesday.
The Palestinian, Mohammed Rashid, is in custody here. But government spokesman Stelio Hitiris has refused to say when he was arrested, why no announcement was made of his arrest or whether he will stand trial in Greece.
According to police officials here, the United States has requested extradition. The deadline was last Friday. The government’s refusal prompted a visit by U.S. Ambassador Robert Keeley to Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou last week.
Rashid is believed to have had a part in the August 1982 bomb attack on a Pan American Airways jet flying between Honolulu and Tokyo. A 15-year-old boy was killed and 15 people were injured in the incident.
He is also implicated in an explosion aboard a TWA jet in which five persons, including a 15-month-old baby, were blown out of the plane as it flew between Rome and Athens in 1986.
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