EgyptAir hijacker detained for 15 days pending investigations

CAIRO – 19 August 2018: Seif Eddin Mostafa, who hijacked an Egyptian plane in March 2016, was detained for 15 days and referred to the Public Prosecution after the investigations.

The Egyptian authorities received on Saturday Mostafa who had arrived in Cairo under tight security measures and was deported to El-Khalifa police station.

Mostafa, 60, hijacked an EgyptAir plane with a fake suicide belt which he threatened to detonate in a bid to force the pilot to divert to Turkey, Greece or Cyprus. The hijacking ended peacefully with his arrest and the release of the 55 passengers after a six-hour standoff.

Earlier in the day, Prosecutor General Nabil Sadeq ordered to refer the fugitive to prosecution to interrogate him after his extradition from Cyprus.

Previously, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has forbidden Cypriot authorities from extraditing the Egyptian man to Egypt until it can examine the case, according to the Associated Press.
The Cyprus Justice Ministry said in a statement that it has issued instructions for the suspension of extradition procedures until the ECHR issues its ruling, AP added.

A five-judge Cypriot panel upheld a lower court ruling which refused the hijacker’s defense that he may be tortured by Egyptian authorities or be subject to an unfair trial if he returns.
Egypt requested that Mostafa faces trial under a bilateral agreement as the two countries signed the 1996 extradition treaty.