Egyptian General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek has formally requested the extradition from Cyprus of an Egyptian man accused of hijacking a plane, but a Larnaca court has ordered he should remain in local police custody for eight days to assist Cyprus' own investigation.
Seif al-Din Mustafa, 58, used a fake explosive belt made of mobile phone covers and cables to seize the EgyptAir plane, which was travelling from Alexandria to Cairo, forcing it to instead land in Cyprus.
He then held the passengers and crew members as hostages on the landed plane and demanded to see his Cypriot ex-wife.
Cyprus police prosecutor Andreas Lambrianou says Mustafa faces preliminary charges including hijacking, illegal possession of explosives, kidnapping and threats to commit violence.
Lambrianou said no confirmed explosives were found, but police did recover unidentified liquids in a container and in his bag. The allegation regarding explosives could be dropped if the liquid turns out not to be an explosive.
The prosecutor said after Mustafa was arrested, he told police: "What's someone supposed to do when he hasn't seen his wife and children in 24 years and the Egyptian government won't let him?"
Egypt's interior ministry said Mustafa had a long criminal record but had finished serving a one-year prison term in March 2015. An official at the general prosecutor's office said Egypt imposed no travel ban on Mustafa.
A Cypriot police official told the AP that Mustafa's criminal record on the island stretched to 1988, when he was convicted on six counts of forging passports and given a suspended sentence.
He was deported to Egypt following domestic violence charges by his Cypriot wife.
He re-entered Cyprus on an assumed Qatari identity, but was tracked down and again deported to Egypt in 1990.
Mustafa and his Cypriot wife divorced in 1994. The couple had four children but one child is dead, according to a relative who didn't want to be identified.
After Wednesday's court hearing, a handcuffed Mustafa flashed the "V" for victory sign out the window of a police vehicle as he was driven away.
Cypriot officials have described Mustafa as psychologically unstable, citing his bizarre demands to police negotiators.
Lambrianou said Mustafa had wanted a letter delivered to his Cypriot ex-wife in which he demanded the release of 63 female political dissidents imprisoned in Egypt.
