An 11th man, Aminullah Mohamedi, was cleared of all charges following the three-month trial that is estimated to have cost more than £5m.
The jury of six women and five men had been deliberating for 40 hours when Mr Justice Butterfield was handed a note from the jury saying it was "absolutely deadlocked" on 49 charges involving the 10 remaining defendants.
Bruce Houlder QC, prosecuting, said the crown would seek a retrial of the men who are alleged to have taken control of an Ariana Airlines flight after it had taken off from the Afghan capital, Kabul, on what was supposed to have been a 40-minute internal flight in February last year.
The aircraft, carrying 173 passengers and 14 crew - including 21 children, touched down in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, Kazakstan and Moscow before arriving at Stansted at 2am on February 7 last year. The siege ended after three days of tense negotiations.
The defendants, Ali Safi, 35; Abdul Shohab, 21; Taimur Shah, 29; Muhammed Kazim,28; Waheed Lutfi,23; Reshed Ahmadi,19; Nazamuddin Mohammidy,27; Abdul Ghayur,25; Mohammed Showaib, 21; Aminullah Mohamedi, 41; and Mohammed Safi, 33; all denied hijacking, two charges of false imprisonment, possessing firearms with intent to cause fear of violence and posessing explosives.
After hearing submissions that there was no evidence to support the charges of hijacking and false imprisonment, the judge ordered the jury to acquit Mr Mohamedi, 41, on both counts. Not guilty verdicts were returned on the other three charges. He had told police he was employed by one of the other defendants and did not know anything about the hijack until he boarded the plane.
Waheed Lufti was cleared by the jury of hijacking but they were unable to agree a verdict on the other four charges. A 12th defendant, Khalil Ullah, 31, who fell ill during the trial faces a retrial at a later date.
The defendants were represented by a team of 24 defence barristers, including 12 QCs, while a further three barristers, including a QC, were used to present the prosecution case.
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Cartoon
Steve Bell on the media's view of the hijack
Useful links
Afghanistan Online
Afghan media
Online centre for Afghan studies
Stansted airport
