3yrs' for 37 Somali pirates
2009-04-15 21:34
Mogadishu - The Supreme Court in Somalia's northern breakaway state of Puntland on Wednesday handed down three-year prison terms to 37 pirates detained by the French and US navies, officials said.
"After listening to the charges against the defendants, who were accused of being armed gangs attacking ships, the court recognised them as criminals and sentenced them to three years each," judge Mohamed Abdi Aware said.
The same court, in the port city of Bosasso, had jailed another 15 pirates to three years in prison last week.
Out of those sentenced on Wednesday, 19 were handed over by the French navy and 18 by the US navy, said a court official.
The pirates denied the piracy charges in court, claiming they were "fishermen illegally arrested" by foreign navies.
Dozens of pirates and suspected pirates have been detained by foreign navies in recent months as part of a concerted international effort to curb attacks which have disrupted one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.
France has flown some back to be tried by its own courts but most of the suspects are handed back to the authorities of Puntland - one of the piracy hubs - or Kenya, which has signed agreements on the transfer of pirates.
Somali pirates attacked more than 130 ships in 2008 and hijacked close to 50, raking in millions of dollars in ransom money and rattling the global shipping industry. They currently hold at least 18 vessels.
With the embattled transitional administration unable to assert its authority on its national soil, let alone on its waters, the international community responded by dispatching naval missions.
Yet the legal framework for the arrest and transfer of suspected Somali pirates by foreign navies remains unclear.