The press office of the Cyprus police said there is still no decision regarding the extradition of Seif Eddin Mostafa, who hijacked the EgyptAir A320 aeroplane Tuesday and forced it to land in Larnaca airport.
The Larnaca court decided Tuesday to detain Mostafa for eight days in custody. “He will be interrogated again, and the court will listen to the testimonies of some passengers,” the Cyprus police told Daily News Egypt.
Mostafa used a fake explosive belt to hijack the domestic flight that was en route from Borg El-Arab airport near Alexandria to Cairo, forcing his pilot to land in Larnaca airport in Cyprus.
The 59-year-old Egyptian justified his move by saying he needed to see his family, according to the Larnaca police statement.
“When someone hasn’t seen his family for 24 years and wants to see his wife and children and the Egyptian government does not allow him to, what should he do?” Mostafa told police.
The police accused Mostafa of hijacking a plane and kidnapping people, and violating terrorism and civil aviation laws. However formal charges will not be identified before a second hearing.Mostafa is believed to have a Cypriot ex-wife named Marina, to whom he asked one of the crew members to deliver a letter in Arabic. He then asked to meet an EU representative about female prisoners in Egypt.
“His demands were neither logical nor coherent,” Cypriot minister of foreign affairs Ioannis Kasoulides said.
The Cyprus police press office told Daily News Egypt that Mostafa also asked for the release of 63 women held in prison in Egypt, and then said that the women are held in jail in Brussels.
According to Kasoulides, Mostafa realised that his demands could not be fulfilled and surrendered.
The spokesperson of Cyprus Police Andreas Angelides told Daily News Egypt that Mostafa’s ex-wife went to the airport during the negotiations and told the police that the situation is complicated between her and her husband. Angelides added that they have four children and they were divorced in 1994.
Cyprus authorities said earlier that the incident has nothing to do with terrorism.
The Cyprus police press office told Daily News Egypt that Mustafa did not ask for Asylum.
According to the Cyprus report to the court, which Daily News Egypt obtained a copy of, the plane requested the flight tower to make an emergency landing in Larnaca after some disturbance in the cockpit.
The hijacker requested to land in Turkey, Greece or Cyprus with a strong preference for Cyprus.
The plane began its descent before it received official permission, according to police report. After the landing, all scheduled flights at the Larnaca airport were halted, and police forces surrounded the area.
