LONDON - Holidaymakers should boycott Cyprus after a court found a British woman guilty of lying about being gang-raped by a group of Israeli youths, the woman’s mother said on Thursday.
In a case that Britain’s foreign ministry said raised serious concerns, a district court ruled on Tuesday that the woman, aged 19 at the time, had lied about being sexually abused by 12 Israeli teenagers. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 7.
The woman, who has not been identified by media, was arrested after police said she had withdrawn an accusation that the teenagers had raped her in a hotel room at the holiday resort of Ayia Napa in July.
The woman maintained that she had recanted her accusation only under duress from police, during persistent questioning without a lawyer present. Prosecutors and the court dismissed that justification.
The case has attracted widespread media coverage in Britain, which accounted for a third of the 3.9 million tourists who visited Cyprus in 2018. The woman faces a jail sentence of up to one year. Her lawyers have said she intends to appeal the verdict.
Speaking to BBC radio, the woman’s mother said she supported calls on social media for British holidaymakers to avoid the island.
“My personal view is that’s a good thing to do,” she said.
“The place isn’t safe - it is absolutely not safe. And if you go and report something that’s happened to you, you’re either laughed at, as far as I can tell, or, in the worst case, something like what’s happened to my daughter may happen.”
Media captionEgyptAir Flight MS181 hijacking suspect passes through airport security
An Egyptian hijacker who forced a domestic flight to land in Cyprus used a fake suicide belt, officials said.
His motives remain unclear but the Cypriot president said the incident was not terrorism-related.
Footage released by Egypt's interior ministry shows the man passing through several security checks at Alexandria's Borg El Arab airport.
The drama ended with all passengers released unhurt at Larnaca airport and the man giving himself up. Hijacker jokes divide social media How the hijacking unfolded
Media captionThe suspect emerged from the plane and was later detainedCypriot officials named the hijacker as Seif Eldin Mustafa and said he was "psychologically unstable".
Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said Mustafa had initially asked to speak with his Cypriot ex-wife, who police brought to the airport, before making a series of "incoherent" demands.
Police in Cairo were questioning Mustafa's relatives, AP news agency reported.
The Egyptair plane left Larnaca at 22:05 local time (19:05 GMT) bound for Cairo, its original destination.
Questions over security
Egypt's tourism ministry insisted all airport security measures had been "fully implemented" before EgyptAir Flight MS181 began its flight earlier in the day.
CCTV footage released by the interior ministry shows Mustafa being frisked at two security checks and passing a slim bag through x-ray machines.
The BBC's Youssef Taha says Egypt has taken steps to improve airport security after Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 was blown up over Sinai last October.
They include an extra $1bn a year and a deal with British consultancy Control Risks to review procedures at Cairo, Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Alam airports.
Despite this, our correspondent says checks remain inconsistent, with many VIPs and MPs refusing to be searched and airport and airline staff routinely bypassing full security screening.
Analysis - BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner
Image copyrightReutersIt is only some small comfort that the man who hijacked Egyptair flight MS181 was bluffing. The bulging white "suicide belt" with wires sticking out turned out to be a fake.
It at least means that this time Egypt cannot be accused of letting someone smuggle explosives through airport security and on to an airliner as they did in October at Sharm El Sheikh airport, destroying a Russian passenger jet in mid-air.
But it still triggers a number of worrying questions about aviation security.
How was it that a passenger, described by the Cypriot authorities as "mentally unstable" was able to carry enough materials through Alexandria airport to resemble a bomb?
And what is to stop any future airline passenger, similarly unarmed, from pretending that he or she has a real device strapped to them?
For Egypt's battered tourism industry, which has yet to recover from the October airline bombing, this hijack is a further blow it can ill afford.
'Always a woman involved'
After a standoff lasting several hours, the hijacker walked down aircraft steps and surrendered to Cypriot security forces.
Shortly before that, several people were seen fleeing the aircraft, including one person, apparently a crew member, who climbed out of a cockpit window.
Other passengers had left the plane after appearing to have been released.
Earlier, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades had responded to a reporter's question about whether the hijacker was motivated by romance, by laughing and saying: "Always there is a woman involved." Image copyrightAFP/GettyImage caption A man believed to be the hijacker leaves the aircraft Image copyrightAFP/GettyImage caption Cypriot security services were waiting for him EgyptAir said the Airbus A320 was carrying 56 passengers from Alexandria to Cairo, along with six crew and a security official.
A statement from Egypt's civil aviation ministry said 26 foreign passengers were on board, including eight Americans, four Britons, four Dutch citizens, two Belgians, two Greeks, a French national, an Italian and a Syrian.
Media captionCyprus President Nicos Anastasiades: "Always there is a woman involved"Are you at Larnaca airport? Have you been you affected by this story? Email us: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
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A number of Iraqi Kurds are believed to have landed at RAF Akrotiri in 1998.
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has called for an extraordinary summit of several EU and Balkan leaders on Sunday to discuss the migrant crisis.
In a statement on Wednesday, he said there was "a need for much greater co-operation, more extensive consultation and immediate operational action".
