An Egyptian flight attendant among 12 killed at Riyadh airport

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An Egyptian flight attendant was killed at Riyadh airport on Saturday afternoon, one of twelve people who died when a missile struck King Khalid International. Five other Egyptians were injured. EgyptAir and Air Cairo have both suspended their Riyadh flights.

Earlier in the week Egypt gathered Ethiopia’s neighbours at Alamein, and Ethiopia answered by rejecting the result and asking for a coastline of its own. El-Sisi then spent three days in Asia and came home with twelve agreements. And prosecutors ordered the six Matsada2sh journalists held while they investigate.

Let’s get into it.

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• Egyptian flight attendant among 12 killed in Riyadh 🇸🇦

• Twelve agreements in Seoul, and trade talks to follow 🇰🇷

• Prosecutors order the Matsada2sh six held 📰

SAUDI ARABIA | THE HOUTHIS | EGYPTIANS ABROAD
EGYPTIAN FLIGHT ATTENDANT AMONG 12 KILLED AT RIYADH AIRPORT

A missile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh at around 3pm local time on Saturday, killing 12 people and injuring 309. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation gave those figures on Sunday morning and put the dead at four Saudi citizens and eight residents: two Bangladeshis and one each from Egypt, the United States, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan.

The Egyptian who died: Egyptian press reports, citing the Egyptian Consul General in Riyadh, identify her as Azza Ramzy Mohamed Hassan, 28, a flight attendant for the Saudi carrier flynas. The embassy in Saudi Arabia and the consulate in Riyadh said they are working with her family to complete the arrangements to bring her body home. A medical source at a Riyadh hospital had told AFP only that the Egyptian who died was a flight attendant for a Saudi airline.

Five more Egyptians were hurt: The Consul General put the number of injured Egyptians at five, two of them airport staff and two travellers who happened to be there when the missile landed. The embassy and consulate said they had telephoned some of the injured and their families and were coordinating with the Saudi authorities. We are not naming the injured.

Saturday was the third strike on the airport in a week: Abha airport was attacked on Tuesday, killing two women, a Moroccan and an Algerian resident, and injuring 28. Riyadh was hit on Wednesday, injuring eight people including two Egyptians and killing a Sudanese resident. On Thursday three Saudi citizens were killed, among them a Saudia pilot, and one of the airline’s aircraft was damaged. The Houthis claimed those earlier attacks.

Nobody has formally claimed Saturday’s: A diplomatic source told AFP a Houthi missile caused it, and the civil aviation authority did not identify the attacker. As of Saturday night the Houthis had not claimed the strike, according to Reuters; their military spokesman instead reposted an earlier message saying only pre-approved humanitarian flights could land at Riyadh, adding the single word “reminder.” Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned the attack on Saturday evening as “a flagrant violation of international law,” before the death toll was published, and said it was concerned for “the safety of civilians of various nationalities.”

If you were due to fly: EgyptAir has suspended flights from Cairo and Alexandria to Riyadh until the airport reopens, and is letting passengers rebook to other Saudi cities or take a refund without a fee. Air Cairo has suspended Riyadh to Cairo and Riyadh to Sohag on Sunday and Monday. Qatar Airways, Etihad and Kuwait Airways have cancelled Riyadh flights, and the US and Canadian embassies have told their citizens to stay away from the airport. Egypt has one of the largest expatriate workforces in Saudi Arabia, so this is a practical problem for a great many of our readers and their families.

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SOUTH KOREA | MALAYSIA | TRADE
TWELVE AGREEMENTS IN SEOUL, AND TRADE TALKS TO FOLLOW

El-Sisi signed twelve agreements and memoranda with South Korea on Thursday, on the first leg of a three-country Asian tour. It was his first visit to Korea since 2016.

What Seoul actually produced: The twelve cover a social security agreement that exempts posted workers from host-country contributions for up to five years and lets insurance periods be combined; information technology; clean energy including peaceful nuclear use; shipbuilding, tied to Egypt’s 2030 Suez Canal green strategy; maritime cooperation; higher education, updated for the first time in a decade; power infrastructure including high-voltage direct current transmission and storage; a digital trade-facilitation platform; 2027 as a year of mutual cultural exchange; and two agreements for the Grand Egyptian Museum with Korean national museums.

The one with a timetable: Egypt and South Korea issued a joint declaration on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, with the first formal negotiating round targeted for the first half of 2027. That makes Egypt the first North African country with which Seoul has publicly announced such talks.

And the trams: Hyundai Rotem and Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels signed a memorandum on Wednesday covering 44 hydrogen-powered tram sets for the New Administrative Capital, subject to a feasibility study. El-Sisi also met representatives of 23 Korean companies and renewed Egypt’s offer of an integrated Korean industrial zone in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

The part worth testing later: Almost everything above is a memorandum, which records an intention rather than a commitment. The trade agreement has not been negotiated, the trams depend on a feasibility study, and the Korean industrial zone is a renewal of an offer Egypt has made before. The useful question in six months is how many of the twelve have become contracts, and that is a story nobody will write unless someone keeps the list.

MEDIA | PROSECUTION | DUE PROCESS
PROSECUTORS ORDER MATSADA2SH JOURNALISTS HELD

The Public Prosecution said on Wednesday, 7 October, that it had ordered the six Matsada2sh journalists held in pretrial detention while its investigation continues. The statement named no charges and gave no detention length. The six were arrested on 28 and 29 September; the Interior Ministry announced it on 1 October.

What the prosecution says it has: The case began with National Security Sector investigations. The prosecution cited arrest and search warrants, a confession by the first defendant and the contents of his phone, including encrypted group chats and emails, monthly foreign-currency payments by bank transfer, social media posts supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, and a technical examination of one defendant’s posts. It said none of the six showed visible injuries, and that three who alleged mistreatment were referred to the Forensic Medicine Authority, whose reports found no injuries or signs of violence.

What the defence says: The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which represents the six, issued a ten-point response arguing that prosecution statements on social media “carry no legal evidentiary value” and that the case has reached no court. It says the six were not brought before prosecutors until five days after arrest, with 18 complaints filed by families and lawyers in that period, and that they were held under an exceptional custody provision of the 2015 counterterrorism law which it says applies only where there is a risk of a terrorist offence. On the evidence, EIPR says the payments were salaries under employment contracts and that no Matsada2sh report has been identified as false. On the medical question it says the journalists never claimed visible injuries, and that the prosecution’s account leaves out their testimony that they were made to record confessions. EIPR wants them released and the case closed.

The Syndicate’s position: The Journalists Syndicate board voted unanimously on Monday to file a complaint with the Prosecutor General over the mistreatment allegations, asked that any confession obtained under coercion be ruled invalid, and offered to guarantee the six, citing their youth and limited experience and undertaking to produce them for questioning. More than 80 Egyptian, regional and international organisations have called for their release.

Where this now sits: Two accounts of the same five days are on the record, one from the prosecution and one from the lawyers, and they disagree on almost every material point. No court has tested either. The one development that would settle part of it, a full forensic report tested in front of a judge, has not happened yet. As of Saturday the six were still in pretrial detention.