Eritreans jailed for five years after hijacking Libyan plane to Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sept 1 (AFP) — A Khartoum court on Wednesday jailed 15 Eritrean illegal emmigrants each for five years for hijacking to Sudan a Libyan military plane on which they were being forcibly repatriated.

An AFP correspondent said the court also ordered that they be expelled after serving their sentences.

Judge Munir Hosni said the civilians, who were not armed during the hijacking, had “according to the law, committed several crimes linked to terrorism, to undermining general security and to taking possession of an aircraft by force”.

The 15 were among a group of 73 passengers, including 22 women and six children, who were aboard the plane hijacked to Khartoum on August 27.

The passengers, all Eritreans, had been arrested in Libya which they had entered illegally. The Libyan authorities put them aboard the aircraft to send them, against their will, back to Eritrea.

The 15 can appeal against their sentences which were viewed as light. The law specifies a maximum 14 years imprisonment for this type of offence.