Egypt’s Public Prosecutor Nabil Sadeq on Wednesday referred the 2016 hijacker of EgyptAir’s Flight 181 to criminal court for trial, stating that the 60 year-old suspect has confessed to seeking Muslim Brotherhood ties. Earlier media reports, citing Cyprian officials, claimed that Saif Eddin Mostafa’s motive for hijacking the plane was seeing his estranged wife in Cyprus. Mostafa threatened the plane’s crew by claiming to wear an explosive belt under his clothes, later revealed to be fake. Egypt’s Public Prosecutor filed a request to the Cypriot prosecutor for the international extradition of Mostafa, on charges of hijacking an Egyptian plane. The Supreme Court of Cyprus agreed to the request from a memorandum by the Egyptian Public Prosecution, which guarantees criminal prosecution in accordance with international standards, and a security mission from Egyptian INTERPOL retrieved the hijacker from Cypriot authorities in August.

Source: Egypt Independent December 05, 2018 13:01 UTC