Roundup: Cypriot court upholds Egyptian request for extradition of hijacker

A Cypriot court on Friday upheld a request from Egypt to the Cypriot authorities for the extradition of a man who had hijacked a plane to Cyprus in March by brandishing a fake explosive belt.

The court ordered Seif el-Din Mustafa, 59, to be handed to Egypt to be tried for the hijacking of an EgyptAir plane on a flight from Alexandria to Cairo on March 29.

The plane landed at Larnaca Airport where the hijacker surrendered to the police after six hours of negotiations.

Mustafa had "selfies" taken with passengers which were posted on the Internet. He released several passengers gradually, others just ran down the stairs of the plane, and the pilot jumped out of a cockpit window. Mustafa tried to evade arrest by running through a grassy path next to the airport's fence.

During the extradition hearing before a district court in Nicosia, the hijacker claimed through his lawyer that he was afraid he would not receive a fair trial in Egypt because of his political beliefs and actions, and would be tortured.

A judge said in her decision that Mustafa had failed to present a convincing case that he would not have a fair trial.

"The court accepted an assurance by Egyptian authorities that he will be given a fair trial and all his rights will be safeguarded," the decision said.

The hijacker had originally said he commandeered the plane and forced a landing at Larnaca because he wanted to meet his estranged Cypriot wife and their four daughters whom he had not seen for more than 20 years.

But at his extradition hearing, he put forth other reasons for his actions. He originally said in a 20-page plea that he wanted to draw attention to the case of 60 women he claimed were held in Egyptian prisons.

Later he changed this version by saying the hijacking was a "cunning" action he used with "artfulness and cleverness to uncover what he know about the case of Giulio Regeni," but did not go into details.

Mustafa has a right to file an appeal against the court's decision for his extradition.

His lawyer said he would think over this possibility after closely examining the written decision of the court. Endit