Jury discharged in Afghan hijack trial

The jury in the trial of 11 Afghan men accused of hijacking an aircraft and holding passengers hostage at Stansted Airport was discharged today after failing to reach verdicts.

Following a three month trial, the six women and five men reached verdicts in relation to two of the men but could not agree on the remaining 49 charges.

Bruce Houlder, QC, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey the Crown would be seeking a retrial in relation to the outstanding charges.

The 11 had denied hijack, possessing firearms, possessing explosives, false imprisonment of passengers and false imprisonment of the cabin crew.

The Ariana Boeing 727 carrying 164 passengers and crew was forced to fly from Afghanistan to the Essex airport in February last year.

A three-day siege followed which ended peacefully with the alleged hijackers surrendering to armed police.