EgyptAir plane hijacker referred to Criminal Court

CAIRO - 5 December 2018: Attorney General Nabil Ahmad Sadiq referred on Wednesday, Dec. 5 the defendant who hijacked a plane and diverted it to Cyprus in March 2016 to the Criminal Court.

Seif Eddin Mostafa, 60, faces many charges of kidnapping, intimidation, detention of passengers and promoting the extremist ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The investigation revealed that Mostafa 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.

In August 2018, he was detained for 15 days and referred to the Public Prosecution after the investigations.

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 Justice Ministry of Cyprus said in a statement that it has issued instructions for the suspension of the 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.