RantCrush Top 5: December 23, 2016

This morning, two hijackers took over a Libyan domestic airplane carrying 111 passengers. The Afriqiyah Airways plane kept flying past its destination of Tripoli and landed on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean. The Maltese military was said to be negotiating with the hijackers, who threatened to blow up the plane with grenades. But they gradually let more than half of the passengers leave, though they kept some as hostages until finally surrendering later this morning.

The city of Sabha where the flight originated is often affected by tribal violence, and there has been a power vacuum in Libya since leader Muammar Gadhafi was killed in 2011, allowing ISIS and similar groups to thrive. It’s still unclear who the hijackers are and what they want, but one of them was waving a green flag outside the plane, implying loyalty to Gadhafi.

All passengers freed from hijacked Libyan plane in #Malta, crew being released now https://t.co/i9Iw9XzuCn pic.twitter.com/t6SaeatG4q

— NDTV (@ndtv) December 23, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.