Surviving pirate wins a vacation in the Big Apple
I couldn't find a link to an indictment (which may well be still sealed), but here is the gist of the story by AP:
Quote:
Friday, 17 April 2009 10:20 AM
Somali pirate to face charges in New York: report
Australian Associated Press
A teenage pirate captured by US Navy forces during a high-seas hostage drama last week will face charges in a New York court, CBS News reported on Thursday.
The pirate was identified as 19-year-old Abdulwali Muse, believed to be the ringleader of four Somali hijackers who attacked the US-flagged Maersk Alabama cargo ship on April 8 and took its captain hostage for five days, the television network said.
Muse was set to face charges in New York's Southern District Court.
The US federal court has reviewed major terror cases in the United States, among them the convictions of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings
More on Fox:
Quote:
Captured Somali Pirate to Be Tried in New York
Thursday, April 16, 2009
.....
A Department of Justice official said that timing is unknown on when the suspect will be brought to the U.S. District Court in New York, and no announcements are expected tomorrow.
The pirate is "still in the middle of the Indian Ocean somewhere," one official told FOX News.
An official told FOX News that documents have already been filed and are awaiting his arrival in New York.
The Fed SDNY (SD = Southern District, which is Manhattan) is the primary US venue for Admiralty Law. So, the choice of venue is logical - and centuries old.
Boy - are you guys tough on Hill and Bill ! ;)
I got a laugh out of this article
LINK.
Well of course they are. Given the fact that they're getting some arming and organizing help from a number of sources -- not least almost certainly the two nations who have sent veritable little Task Forces to 'assist' in the patrol by NATO navies and Operation Atalanta -- and who must of course land 'Liaison Officers' to coordinate with local governments...
Yes, I'm sure they are getting more skilled and organized, a little training will do that...
Piracy: The Military Options ...
linked by Ub - and which I just got around to reading - is a good article for we civilian types to read. Surprised it was floated in the Nation, which is scarcely non-partisan.
From Ken's link,
Quote:
The foreign anti-piracy patrols were merely "scratching the surface" and the only real solution was for proper security on the lawless Somali mainland.
I wonder what measures the admiral suggests to implement "proper security" on the mainland.
Pirate mother's Obama mercy plea
Jeez, underage pirates being incarcerated :rolleyes:
Quote:
Adar Abdurahman Hassan told the BBC her son, Abde Wale Abdul Kadhir Muse, was innocent and just 16 years old.
He was held over the seizure off Somalia of Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship.
While her son was allegedly negotiating on a US warship, naval snipers shot dead three pirates holding the captain.
The mother of the teenager, who is facing trial in New York, said she wanted to be present in court if the case goes ahead.
Pirate Muse to be tried as an adult ...
The old law books were dusted off in the first round of US vs Muse.
Quote:
Somali pirate to be tried as adult in New York
A Somali teenager was charged as an adult in a New York court on Tuesday in what is believed to be the first piracy case in America in more than a century.
By Tom Leonard in New York
Last Updated: 11:20PM BST 21 Apr 2009
Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, who is thought to be 18, is also facing hostage-taking charges over the seizure of the captain of an American cargo ship earlier this month. He faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of piracy. ...
....
His parents have appealed to President Barack Obama for his release, saying that he comes from a penniless family and was coaxed into piracy by "gangsters" promising him money.
Adar Abdirahman Hassan, his mother, said she cried when she saw a picture of him arriving in New York in chains.
"The last time I saw him he was in his school uniform," she said. "He was brainwashed. People who are older than him outwitted him, people who are older than him duped him."
She said her son was "wise beyond his years" and got lost in books as a child rather than misbehaving.
And some more background from Somalia:
Quote:
Mystery surrounds Somali pirate's personal life
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED Mohamed Olad Hassan And Malkhadir M. Muhumed – Tue Apr 21, 5:46 pm ET
MOGADISHU, Somalia – At home in central Somalia, Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse studied English, frequented a dusty, outdoor cinema after school where he watched Bollywood films dubbed into his native Somali and, his mother says, "was wise beyond his years."
....
Karen Greenberg, executive director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University's Law School, said that the case could bring the U.S. under international criticism.
"If he is a juvenile and he is tried as an adult and given life imprisonment, it will not help the reputation we are trying hard to reform," she said. "International law is more lenient when it comes to juveniles and we already take criticism."
Another invocation of the "my poor child; the devil made him do it" defense - and invocation of international law in a case brought under a domestic (US) statute or statutes. I find this annoying - must be in an old and cranky mood.
The Italians, of all people, who would have thought...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517955,00.html
"Italian Cruise Ship Fires on Somali Pirates
ROME — An Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack far off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security forces exchanged fire with the bandits and drove them away, the commander said Sunday."
- Napolean's famous whiff of grapeshot, eh?
Grapeshot replaced by firehoses?
Goesh,
Other reports state the Israeli guards aboard only fired pistols in the air and used firehoses - as the Somalis tried to get a ladder fixed on the cruise ship. Hardly a "whiff of grapeshot".
Alas the Italian sailor was not there (as per link: http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/...63020&tc=yahoo).
davidbfpo