@kravietz

The “legitimate emergency” was created by denying overflight by the countries ahead in its path, thereby leaving the aeroplane without anywhere sensible to go and unable to reach its intended refuelling stop in the canary islands. They could do that because as a State flight, it's not covered by the first freedom of the air. A diversion is always a bit less unsightly than an interception and gives some tenuous semblance of deniability that can be fed to the gullible and the ignorant.