Afghans cleared of Stansted hijacking

A group of Afghan men jailed for hijacking a plane from Kabul to Stansted to escape a Taliban death squad were cleared by the British Court of Appeal today.

The nine men had claimed political asylum in Britain.

Brothers Ali and Mohammed Safi – who led the hijack and were jailed for five years – were the only men still in jail and are expected to be freed within a few days once their asylum applications have been processed.

The seven others, jailed for between 27 and 30 months, had already served their sentences.