Iraqi Stansted Airport hijacker told he can stay in the UK after 16-year court battle

An Iraqi man arrested at Stansted Airport after taking part in the hijack of an airliner has won the latest round of a 16-year fight to stay in the UK. Mustafa Abdul Hussain - one of the hijackers of a Sudan Airways Airbus which flew into Britain in August 1996 - successfully challenged the Home Office after ministers refused to grant him 'indefinite leave to remain'.

A judge said Home Secretary Theresa May should reconsider Mr Hussain’s case, following a High Court hearing in London.

Deputy High Court Judge James Dingemans QC said the Home Office decision to refuse Mr Hussain 'indefinite leave to remain' had been 'flawed'.

Judge Dingemans said Mr Hussain was part of a group which hijacked the airliner - which had 197 people on board - after it left Sudan on August 27 1996.

Mr Hussain, and others, had surrendered at Stansted and claimed asylum, then been arrested.

The judge said Mr Hussain was a Shiite Muslim from Basra and his family had suffered at the hands of the Iraqi regime headed by former leader Saddam Hussein.

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