Sigma TV in Cyprys broadcasted a controversial video footage on Thursday of a fracas between the Ambassador of Egypt and the Cyprus police. The footage only further added to the debate on the correctness of the principle of diplomatic immunity, as well as the people skills of the Cyprus police force. According to reports, the incident occurred at 5.43 on December 29, 2012. The Ambassador of Egypt slapped a young police woman after refusing to go through a security clearance. The film actually sheds light on the spat, which threatened to harm Egyptian and Cyprus relations and prompted Cyprus officials to even issue a formal apology over the incident.
More precisely, the diplomatic incident occurred last Saturday when Egyptian ambassador Menha Mahrous Bakhoum went to escort her family to the departure lounge of Larnaca airport to see them off. When police asked the ambassador to take off her boots at the security screening point, Bakhoum (wearing a pink suit) refused. A video of the incident taken by airport surveillance cameras and made public by Sigmalive.com showed the diplomat arguing with police over their demand for her to follow normal screening procedures.
At one point, a policeman is seen grabbing her arm, which set off a series of unfortunate incidents. A member of her entourage tried to protest, prompting police to push him back. Bakhoum then tries to move forward. A policewoman uses her body as an obstacle to prevent her from passing the security zone at which point the Egyptian diplomat gives the woman a forceful slap. This in turn, leads around five policemen to surround Bakhoum as one officer puts her hands behind her back and leads her away.
The diplomat was taken to a room where she allegedly pulled the wig of one of the senior police officers present.
Nonetheless, Cyprus officials being the diplomats that they are, issued a formal apology over the incident. In an effort to draw a line under the incident and avoid creating unnecessary friction with a powerful regional neighbour with which Cyprus shares a sea border and estimated underwater gas reserves, the government released an apology to the Egyptian ambassador on Tuesday.
On the instructions of the President, Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou Marcoullis publicly expressed her “regrets and apologies for the treatment of the ambassador, which was not in conformity with the principle of inviolability of the person and respect of diplomatic representatives”.
The Cyprus police, however, weighed in on the debate voicing their disapproval of the state’s formal apology to Egypt over the affair. Police association head Andreas Symeou argued that the government wrongly apologised for the police’s handling of the Egyptian diplomat who refused to go through the proper security checks at the airport.
Under EU regulations, everyone apart from a select few (heads of state etc) are subject to security checks at airports, painting an unflattering picture of Bakhoum trying to use her position to bypass the country’s laws.
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