The Egyptian travel guide who kidnapped four German tourists and arrived in Cairo on Thursday to be interrogated by a prosecutor could be sentenced to hard labor for life, court sources told AFP.
The guide, Ibrahim Said Moussa, tried to trade the hostages for his two sons who were with his estranged German wife before he surrendered to police in the southern city of Luxor early Thursday, said reports.
The hostages were freed unharmed following telephone contacts for more than three days between the kidnapper and the Egyptian and German authorities, reported the Times newspaper.
If no mitigating circumstances are found, Moussa could be sentenced to life in prison with hard labor if he is convicted of the charges of kidnapping and illegally detaining people, the sources told AFP.
The German foreign ministry said the kidnapper had been armed with a pistol and grenades.
On Wednesday, Moussa threatened to start the killing of the four hostages if his estranged German wife did not hand over custody of his sons.
An interior ministry statement, quoted by the Times, named those held as Marco Vidkind, Ralph Laver, Kristof Paning and Peter Nowotnick.
One of the hostages, who spoke to AFP by telephone during the kidnapping ordeal, said the ministry statement was true, but Egyptian police have not confirmed this – Albawaba.com
