Belarus forces airliner to land and arrests opponent, sparking U.S. and European outrage

Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to force a Ryanair plane to land on Sunday and then detained an opposition-minded journalist who was on board.

In what was described by some EU leaders as a hijacking, the passenger plane flying from Athens to Lithuania was suddenly diverted to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, escorted there by a Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jet. On its landing, authorities arrested Roman Protasevich.

Protasevich had his head in his hands and was shaking when he realised the flight was headed for Minsk, one of the passengers says. Later, as he was led away, according to the same passenger, he remarked: “I’ll get the death penalty here.”

The 26-year-old journalist worked for Poland-based online news service NEXTA, which broadcast footage of mass protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last year via the Telegram messenger app at a time when it was hard for foreign media to do so.

Protasevich who now works for a different Telegram channel called Belamova, is wanted in Belarus on extremism charges and stands accused of organising mass riots and of inciting social hatred.

As European officials threatened new sanctions on Belarus, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the forced landing and arrest a "shocking act," demanded Protasevich's immediate release.

The United States along with the EU, Britain, Canada and Ukraine have already imposed a flight and travel ban on Belarus.