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Ethiopian Airlines pilot found guilty of hijacking his plane
A police vehicle guards in front of the hijacked Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 702 after passengers disembarked at Cointrin Airport in Geneva, February 17, 2014. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
17/03/2015
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - An Ethiopian Airlines pilot was convicted in absentia on Tuesday of hijacking his own plane and flying it to Geneva, 13 months after he surrendered to police and sought asylum there.
The high court in Addis Ababa said it would sentence Hailemedhin Abera Tegegn on Friday -- if he ever returns to his home country he could face up to 20 years in jail.
Hailemedhin, second-in-command on the Feb. 17, 2014 flight to Rome, took control of the aircraft when the main pilot left the cockpit for a toilet break, Swiss police said.
He then sent a coded signal announcing he had hijacked his own plane.
With the jet on the tarmac, an unarmed Hailemedhin scrambled down an emergency rope and surrendered to police without harming the 193 passengers on board the Boeing aircraft, 139 of them Italians, 11 Americans and four French.
Swiss police have said Hailemedhin sought asylum because he did not feel safe in Ethiopia.
Opposition politicians and rights campaigners often accuse the government of stifling dissent, a charge dismissed by the government.
Authorities say there have been growing numbers of people from north and east Africa travelling to Europe to flee poverty and conflicts -- though Hailemedhin left behind a well-paid job on the flagship airline in one of Africa's fastest-growing economies.
Ethiopian officials said at the time Addis Ababa may ask for his extradition.
There were no details on his current whereabouts.
(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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