14 Afghans to appear in UK court for hijacking

LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) - Fourteen Afghans were due to appear in a British court on Monday charged with last month's hijacking of an Afghan airliner, court officials said.

The 14 men aged between 18 and 36 are accused of seizing the airliner and its passengers ``unlawfully and by the use of force or threat.'' The men gave themselves up to police after releasing all of their hostages unharmed.

``They are due to appear this morning on charges of hijacking,'' a spokeswoman for Southend magistrates' court in southeast England said. Monday's hearing was to decide whether to continue to hold the men in custody. If eventually committed for trial they could be jailed for life.

The plane was seized on a domestic flight in early February and flown via Moscow to London's Stansted airport, where police slowly talked the hijackers into a peaceful surrender.

Of the 156 former hostages on the plane when it arrived in Britain on February 7, 73 returned to Afghanistan following assurances from the purist Islamic Taleban authorities in Kabul they would not be punished for originally saying they did not want to go back to their war-ravaged homeland.

The plane was impounded after the release of the last hostages on February 10 and the four crew flew it back to Kabul on March 4. Two more former hostages have since said they are prepared to go home.

Home Secretary (interior minister) Jack Straw earlier this month approved the political asylum applications of just two of the passengers and their six children. He rejected the applications of 27 and their five children and postponed judgement on a further 14 and 23 dependents.

The fact that most of those on board initially asked to stay in Britain