Kidnappers sentenced to death

2008-10-12 14:19

Mogadishu - A Somali court on Saturday handed death sentences to three men convicted of kidnapping a British national working for a Canadian oil firm in the breakaway region of Puntland, an official said.

"The three defendants were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of being kidnappers," said Mohamed Abdi Aware, head of the supreme court in the Puntland port town of Bosasso.

A fourth suspect was handed a 15-year prison term in absentia for assisting the trio in kidnapping Carl Fletcher, who worked for Africa Oil Corporation, in Puntland on Wednesday. Security forces freed him hours later.

Puntland usually executes its death row convicts by firing squad.

Armed gangs in Puntland and elsewhere in Somalia have carried out scores of kidnappings in recent months, often targeting foreigners or Somalis working with international organisations to demand ransoms.

The self-declared state of Puntland in the north has been largely spared the latest violence, but it has been used by pirates seizing foreign vessels and gangs smuggling goods, arms and people across the Gulf of Aden.

- AFP