Afghans guilty of Stansted hijack

12 April 2012

Nine Afghans who claimed they were escaping persecution by the Taliban when they hijacked a plane to Stansted have been found guilty at the Old Bailey after two trials costing the taxpayer an estimated £22 million.

They were found guilty yesterday but reporting restrictions, banning any publication of the case, were only lifted this afternoon.

The nine stood impassively as each was found guilty of five charges: hijacking the Ariana Boeing 727 in February last year, false imprisonment of the flight crew, false imprisonment of the passengers, possessing four guns and possessing hand grenades.

A tenth was cleared of all charges and clasped the shoulder of each of his coaccused as he left the dock.

Those convicted face long prison sentences and it will be up to the Home Secretary to decide whether they should be deported on their release.

After one of the most expensive cases in British criminal history, the jury rejected the men's defence argument that conditions in Afghanistan were so intolerable that they had no option but to hijack the plane.

They seized the aircraft just after take-off from Kabul and flew via Russia to Britain. In a three-day stand-off at Stansted - Britain's longest aircraft siege - the men, armed with four guns, a knife and two hand grenades, threatened to kill passengers and blow up the plane.

Within minutes of walking off the jet, half the freed passengers claimed asylum, and it emerged that many were related to some of the hijackers. As the figure of those wishing to stay quickly rose, there were fears that the whole episode might have been part of a mass asylum claim.

Of the 156 passengers and crew only 78 have since returned to Afghanistan. The remaining 78, including the nine convicted today, are all claiming asylum and their cases are still being considered.

The accused, bearded and in traditional robes when they walked off the plane, appeared in the dock clean-shaven and wearing new suits. They said they were members of a pro-democracy group, the Young Intellectuals of Afghanistan, and that they faced arrest and execution in their homeland.

The first trial began at the Old Bailey on 18 January, with Ali Safi, 35, Abdul Shohab, 21, Taimur Shah, 29, Muhammed Kazim, 28, Waheed Lutfi, 23, Reshed Ahmodi, 19, Nazamuddin Mohammidy, 27, Abdul Ghayur, 25, Mohammed Showaib, 21, Aminullah Mohamedi, 41, Mohamed Safi, 33, and Khalil Ullah, 31, in the dock.

Ullah was acquitted after claiming he was an innocent passenger, but after a 12-week trial the jury were unable to agree on the other 11. The jury were discharged from giving a verdict on Aminullah Mohamedi after he fell ill during the second trial. Waheed Lutfi was today cleared of all charges.

The taxpayer was left with an estimated £12 million bill for that trial alone and Mr Justice Butterworth was highly critical of the massive costs. He said he wondered why it was necessary for two counsel to represent each defendant when some called no witnesses. In all, 24 barristers were engaged.

Money also went on flying witnesses from Afghanistan, not to mention the costs of housing the asylum seekers and dealing with their applications.

The second trial began on 1 October with a smaller legal team of 15 defence barristers, of whom only four were QCs.

Prosecuting, Bruce Houlder QC said the defendants' behaviour was excessively violent and said they could not use the defence of duress to escape punishment for the terror they caused to the 14 crew and passengers.

Mr Houlder told how, once at Stansted, the passengers and crew had to endure three days and three nights of fear while being held as hostages. They were threatened with death if they failed to obey their captors.

"It was a dangerous and frightening escapade," he said.

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