A Libyan man who hijacked an Airbus A320 from Afriqiyah Airlines in 2016 was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Malta on Wednesday. The plane with 109 passengers landed without casualties in Malta at the time.
Shah Soko Moussa, 29, confessed to hijacking the plane in February on December 23, 2016. His fellow hijacker, like Moussa from the southern Libyan city of Sabha, has yet to be tried. He denies involvement.
The duo hijacked the aircraft during a flight from Sabha to the Libyan capital Tripoli and forced the pilots to divert to Malta. They did not manage to get into the cockpit. They had fake weapons with them, it turned out, and they threatened to blow up the plane.
The men stated to the Maltese authorities that they were members of a group supporting Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed in 2011. After four hours of negotiations, the two left the plane with their last hostage, a crew member, and surrendered.
What they wanted to achieve with their action remains unclear. The judge said that despite no injuries, the court should take such “terrorist” acts very seriously.
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