‘This terrorist is an idiot’

The British man who snapped a photo with the individual who hijacked an EgyptAir flight earlier this week said in an interview Friday it was all part of a ‘very thought-through process’ to save his life and those of his fellow hostages.  Ben Innes appeared on Good Morning America and said that he believed hijacker […]

The British man who snapped a photo with the individual who hijacked an EgyptAir flight earlier this week said in an interview Friday it was all part of a ‘very thought-through process’ to save his life and those of his fellow hostages.
 Ben Innes appeared on Good Morning America and said that he believed hijacker Seif Eldin Mustafa might reconsider detonating his suicide vest if the two had an interaction and the man saw the passenger as a human being.
 ‘I thought of several ways in which I could further interact with him, one of which was taking a selfie,’ said Innes.
‘I wanted him to understand I was human, that I wasn’t just a nameless, faceless victim. That I was a real living person. And I wanted that to be clear so he would understand that.’
He also said that he wanted to take the photo so he could see if Seif Eldin Mustafa had any more weapons or if there were other hijackers
Innes was one of just four passengers who, along with crew members, were kept on the plane as hostages by Mustafa after the flight was diverted to Cyprus’ Larnaca airport.
Mustafa was ultimately captured following a six-hour standoff with authorities, who determined that the man’s suicide vest was fake and equipped with no explosives.
Innes, who thought the vest was real at the time, said he also used the photo opportunity to assess the situation.
 ‘I wanted to get a better look at the device. I needed to understand if he had any other weapons, if there were any other hijackers,’ said Innes.
 He later said; ‘If I died, I died unafraid.’
There has since been much backlash over the photo, especially because Innes is smiling next to the hijacker in the picture while the man’s ‘suicide vest’ is clearly showing, but it does not seem to bother the 26-year-old, who is a health and safety worker.
EgyptAir flight 181 was carrying 72 passengers from Alexandira to Cairo on Tuesday when Mustafa announced he was wearing a suicide vest and demanded that the plane be diverted to Cyprus.
Once the plane arrived in Cyprus, Mustafa made a multitude of demands, from wanting to see his Cypriot wife to meeting with members of the European Union.
 Over the course of the hours-long stan-off, authorities were able to negotiate for the release of most passengers until just the crew and four foreigners were left on the plane, including Innes.
They were all finally released after six hours, at which point Mustafa surrendered to police.
Shortly after his arrest, and the discovery that his vest was fake, an Egyptian Foreign Ministry official said of Mustafa: ‘He’s not a terrorist, he’s an idiot. Terrorists are crazy but they aren’t stupid. This guy is.’
Source MailOnline