Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Ex-Wife of the Egyptian Hijacker: “Marriage was Darkest Chapter of my Life” | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Mustafa and his ex-wife Paraschou on their wedding day (Asharq Al-Awsat)


The ex-wife of the man who hijacked an EgyptAir flight and forced it to divert to Larnaca airport in Cyprus a few days ago in order to meet her said that her marriage to him was “hell” and the “darkest chapter” of her life. She added that he did not show any interest in her or their children since they separated.

Marina Paraschou revealed that she met hijacker Seif Al-Din Mustafa, 58, in Cyprus 32 years ago when she was 18 years, and that their marriage which lasted five years was the “darkest chapter” of her life. She said that “Most of the media painted a picture of a romantic situation in which a man was trying to reach out to his estranged wife. But that couldn’t be further from the truth and they would have a different opinion if they knew what he was really like”.

Paraschou said in a statement published by a Cypriot newspaper yesterday that her ex-husband, who is currently being detained by the police, was violent and abusive towards her and their three children, refused to work and took drugs.

Seif Al-Din Mustafa appeared in front of a criminal court in the Cypriot capital Nicosia yesterday in relation to the EgyptAir hijacking and Cypriot sources said that the man appeared to have “lost all hope in life”.

During the hijacking crisis and the detention of those on board the flight, which ended with the hijacker surrendering, the Cypriot police brought Paraschou to Larnaca airport and she said the aim of this was to verify his identity and not in response to the demand that he made in a four page letter sent to the authorities from the plane. She said “They took me there to identify his voice”.

Mustafa faces charges of using an “explosive belt” and forcefully diverting a plane to Cyprus. After his surrender and the end of the plane crisis, the Cypriot authorities decided to detain him for eight days pending investigation.