EgyptAir pilot asks for political asylum in Britain

http://www.nandotimes.com/global/story/0,1024,500164059-500207612-500950676-0,00.html

By ROBERT BARR

LONDON (February 5, 2000 4:44 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Egyptian authorities confirmed Saturday that Britain is considering an asylum plea from an EgyptAir pilot who claims to have information about the airline's fatal crash last year off the coast of Massachusetts.

The Home Office has confirmed only that an Egyptian national "has sought entry into the U.K. and his application is being considered by the immigration services." The Egyptian Embassy in London, however, said pilot Hamdi Hanafi Taha, 49, was staying at an Immigration Service facility at Heathrow airport while his case was considered.

The Middle East News Agency had quoted an EgyptAir statement Friday as saying Taha asked for asylum after piloting an EgyptAir flight to London.

But airline officials said Taha had no special knowledge about the cause of the Oct. 31 crash near the island of Nantucket that killed all 217 people aboard.

A team of American and Egyptian investigators has yet to release any official findings on the cause of the crash. Some U.S. sources have said the National Transportation Safety Board is working on the theory the plane was brought down deliberately by a co-pilot who died in the crash.

Egyptian authorities hotly dispute that theory. They say the most likely cause is an unexplained problem in the plane's tail section.

Both the Egyptian government and public have condemned as outrageous and insulting any speculation that an Egyptian pilot may have committed suicide and killed innocent people. If Taha has information contradicting that, he may fear being ostracized - or worse - in a country where human rights activists have been jailed for speech considered harmful to the national interest.

EgyptAir's statement did not elaborate on whether Taha claimed to have information about the co-pilot on the ill-fated jet.

In Cairo, Taha's wife, Hoda Abdel-Rahman Youssef, told The Associated Press she did not believe her husband was seeking asylum. "He is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and we're waiting for him," she said.

Youssef told reporters earlier her husband was "very sad" after the crash, but added: "He didn't tell me anything about the reason behind its plunge."

She said her husband had suffered anxiety recently, but seemed normal when he left for work Friday morning. The two have been married 19 years and have six children.

Taha has worked for EgyptAir since 1984, Egypt's Al Gomhuria newspaper reported.

"His relationship with his colleagues was good, but he had some problems with the (airline) administration," said Mohammed Salama, the pilot who flew Taha's plane back to Cairo.

The state-run airline's head of operations, Capt. Hassan Misharfa, said Taha's move was "very strange." Misharfa, who took part in the crash investigation, told the pro-government newspaper Al-Ahram that Taha could not have had information about the crash.

Egyptian government spokesman Nabil Osman refused to comment on Taha's motives, saying "it is premature to speculate."

-- boop (leafyspurge@hotmail.com), February 06, 2000

Answers

"They say the most likely cause is an unexplained problem in the plane's tail section."

Isn't that where the stabilizer is located?

-- Cheryl (Transplant@Oregon.com), February 06, 2000.