Eritreans on trial in Sudan after seizing plane

KHARTOUM, Aug 30 (Reuters) – Fifteen Eritrean asylum seekers went on trial in Sudan on Monday charged with hijacking a Libyan plane and forcing it to land in Khartoum last week, court sources said.

The 15 – part of a group of 76 asylum seekers aboard the plane – were charged under Sudan’s counter-terrorism, criminal and civil aviation laws, the sources said.

“All 15 were men. They were identified by the plane’s crew as having been involved with the hijacking,” one source said.

According to statements taken by the investigator, the 15 took control of the Libyan military transport plane on Friday with objects that included a can opener, three razor blades and two lighters, the source added.

He said seven of the men were questioned and confessed to forcing the plane to land in Khartoum but denied causing damage to the inside of the plane or hitting the crew. The crew said the hijackers had threatened to set the plane alight and had attacked them with their hands, the source said.

The U.N. refugee agency said Sudan had agreed to consider the asylum cases for the 76 Eritreans on the plane.

The Eritreans were being deported from Libya and returned to the Eritrean capital Asmara. Libya had denied the Eritreans refugee status.

Eritrean government regulations forbid young people from leaving the country. Human rights groups say hundreds of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers have been forcibly sent home, where many have faced torture and detention without charge or trial. Eritrea denies the allegations.

The source said the seven men questioned had said they were deserters from the Eritrean army and were afraid of being tried on their return.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees recommends that even failed asylum seekers are not forcibly returned to Eritrea.

Sudan has poor relations with its neighbour Eritrea and has accused it of backing Sudanese rebel groups.