Somali jailed over plane hijack attempt in New Zealand

SYDNEY - A Somali refugee who attempted to hijack a passenger jet in New Zealand was sentenced Friday to nine years in jail by a court in the South Island city of Christchurch.

Asha Ali Abdille, 36, pleaded guilty to trying to hijack the 19-seat aircraft on a domestic flight.

She used one of the three knives she carried onto the Blenheim-to-Christchurch flight in February 2008 to try to force the pilot to take the plane to Australia instead.

When the pilot told her there was not enough fuel, she suggested that they fly into the sea, the New Zealand Press Association reported.

During the flight, the pilot received cuts to both hands that required extensive surgery. The first officer and a passenger were also knifed.

When the plane landed at Christchurch, Abdille was overpowered by the pilot and first officer.

Abdille told the court she was one of 17 children who fled Mogadishu with her parents when a civil war erupted in 1991. She told of being affected by atrocities witnessed before she arrived in New Zealand without her family in 1994.