According to Egypt’s chief prosecutor, Cyprus has extradited the hijacker of an EgyptAir plane which was diverted to the island country in 2016.
Egypt’s chief prosecutor Nabil Sadek revealed the fact that that Egyptian police have found and taken custody of Seif Eddin Mustafa – the hijacker of the Egyptian plane – in Nicosia, the capital city of Cyprus.
The 60-year-old man had been on their most wanted list for hijacking a domestic EgyptAir flight in March 2016. He used a fake suicide belt to divert said plane to Cyprus.
According to Mustafa, his actions were in protest to Egypt’s government and its policies. Prosecutors in Cyprus, however, claims that Mustafa told the authorities that the only motivation of his actions was to reunite with his estranged family in Cyprus, whom he had not met for 24 years.
Cypriot authorities arrested him after the incident and have until recently been detaining him in Cyprus. The Supreme Court in Cyprus even went on to rejecting Mustafa’s appeal against his extradition.