Roundup: Cyprus begins hearing for extradition of Egyptian hijacker

Cyprus' district court here started hearing a petition by Egypt for the extradition of an Egyptian man who hijacked an EgyptAir plane to Cyprus in March, court officials said on Friday.

Seif Eldin Mustafa, aged 59, forced the pilot of EgyptAir flight MS-181 from Alexandria to Cairo to land at Larnaca airport on March 29 by brandishing a fake explosives belt.

His lawyer objected to his extradition saying his action was politically motivated.

"His actions had political motives and my client fears that because of his political beliefs, he will not receive a fair trial in Egypt," lawyer Robertos Vrahimis told the judge.

Mustafa had told investigators after his arrest that he forced the plane to land in Larnaca because he wanted to see his Cypriot ex-wife and four daughters whom he did had not seen for more than 20 years.

Vrahimis sought right from the beginning of the hearing to have the case postponed by claiming that he wanted more time to translate documents submitted by Egypt, which he said were in Greek, Arabic and English.

The court dismissed his request, saying the lawyer had had the documents in his possession for at least 45 days.

The judge also dismissed a request made by Mustafa through an interpreter to address the court for a matter that he said was not connected to the court process.

Mustafa's lawyer later claimed he had been manhandled by the police during his transfer to court.

The hearing was adjourned for an hour and the suspect was led to a cell where he was examined by doctors. No findings of the examination were announced, but the hearing continued as usual.

Meanwhile, the judge had earlier directed Mustafa's lawyer to advise him that people appearing in Cypriot courts must be properly dressed.

Mustafa was wearing a T-shirt with a slogan but he later changed it for another on the advice of court officials.

When the hearing finally started after these long delays, a police investigator recounted the events of the hijacking and his arrest after several hours of negotiations which at times turned farcical.

Most of the people on board the plane had left and the pilot jumped out of the cockpit window, while the hijacker spoke with passengers and was convinced to have a selfie taken with some of them.

When all of the hostage victims had exited the plane, Mustafa had tried to run away through a path at the airport's edge, but was arrested by awaiting policemen.

The court adjourned the hearing until May 26, when the suspect's lawyer will cross-examine the police witness. Endit