An air steward on board a hijacked passenger jet w

An air steward on board a hijacked passenger jet was forced to feign terror to negotiators during a siege at Stansted Airport, the Old Bailey heard today.

A group of 11 Afghans used guns, knives and grenades to take over the 40-minute internal flight and ordered the pilot to fly to England and land at the Essex airport in February last year.

During tense talks, in which a member of the air crew was told to communicate with expert negotiators, the captors ordered him to pretend the passengers were being shot.

After a three day siege, all 180 hostages were released alive and well.

The 11 claim they meant no harm to the passengers and crew and had hijacked the Arian Boeing 727 in a desperate bid to flee the tyrannical Taliban regime.

Hours of recordings of the negotiations were played to a jury where the steward is heard saying: ‘They are hitting us, they are hitting us.

Come to the aircraft as soon as possible otherwise they will kill us.

‘Take action as soon as possible.

We are at the last moment.

We are already wounded.

Just don’t force them to take action.

‘

The steward continues the charade of fear as the hijackers become enraged after their demands to meet a ‘foreign affairs’ politician are stalled by police negotiators.

The steward, who cannot be named for legal reasons, says: ‘They are killing us, they are killing us.

Take action as soon as possible.

Allah, Allah – please take action soon.

‘We are tied down, we are tied down.

‘

Ali Safi, 35, Abdul Shohab, 21, Taimur Shah, 28, Muhammed Kazim, 27, Reshad Ahmodi, 23, Nazamuddin Mohammidy, 27, Abdul Ghayur, 24, Mohammed Showaib, 25, Khalil Ullah, 31, and Mohammed Safi, 33, all deny hijacking between 5 and 11 February, 2000.

They together with Waheed Lutfi, 22, deny two charges of false imprisonment and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and possession of explosives.

The trial continues.

ends

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