Egyptian hijacker pleads with Cypriot court not to extradite him to Egypt

A hijacker who forced an EgyptAir plane to Cyprus in March pleaded with a court on Thursday not to extradite him to Egypt, claiming he may be tortured and murdered.

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.

He said at the time his aim was to draw attention to the case of 60 women he claimed were held in Egyptian prisons.

But Thursday he told the woman judge hearing the extradition request that what he did was a peaceful ploy to reach Italy and uncover what he knew about the "case of Giulio Regeni".

"I used artfulness, cunning and cleverness to uncover the reality of the 'bloody coup'," he said in his sometimes incoherent plea.

In another instance, Mustafa said he ordered the pilot to land in Larnaca because he wanted to see his estranged Greek Cypriot wife and four daughters whom he had not met for 20 years.

His wife told the court earlier this week that her ex-husband had been in prison for most of their married life for dealing in forged passports.

The judge allowed Mustafa to read his 20-page plea in Arabic, which was then read in Greek by his lawyer and was confirmed as true by a translator under oath.

The hearing will continue with the final plea by his lawyer. Endit