World News
UAE Opens Probe Into Flydubai Flight: “Determine Whether It Was Terrorism”
The UAE Attorney General has formed a special team to investigate the incident on a Flydubai flight and its motives. Investigators will examine possible links to a terrorist organization and whether the event was planned or directed in advance.
(Credit: unsplash)The United Arab Emirates’ attorney general, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, ordered today (Thursday) the creation of a special investigative team to examine the unusual incident that took place yesterday on Flydubai flight FZ1073. Among other things, the investigation will examine whether the events were connected to any terrorist organization and whether they were planned or directed in advance.
The investigative team, made up of members of the UAE’s Public Prosecution, has already begun its work in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority and other bodies in the country. Investigators were instructed to gather evidence and information, trace the circumstances of the incident and the motives behind it, and “examine the extent of its connection to any terrorist activity or objective, or whether there was prior planning or direction.”
The attorney general clarified that the UAE justice system has the authority to investigate the case because the aircraft is registered in the country and flies under its flag. Under Emirati law, the country’s laws apply to offenses committed aboard the aircraft even when they take place outside its territory.
The investigation comes after the rescue flight carrying the 166 Israelis who had been on the Flydubai flight landed last night at Ben-Gurion Airport, following hours of waiting in Saudi Arabia. Upon arriving in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with the passenger who subdued the attacker during the incident. “I apologize that I have blood on my clothes. I asked for the luggage 10 times so I could change my clothes before the meeting,” the passenger said. According to him, he knew how to pull the aircraft’s control yoke because he had watched the series “Air Crash Investigation.”
Netanyahu replied: “You don’t need to apologize; you’re the hero. How did you do it? We are a nation of lions, like a lion. I look at you and I see a lion, and I see a great hero. It’s simply unbelievable what you did.”
