Somali man pleads guilty to attacking U.S warship

Somali man pleads guilty to attacking U.S warship

As per a deal reached with US authorities, Ibrahim pleaded guilty to piracy-related charges including “attack to plunder a vessel,” “engaging in an act of violence against persons on a vessel” and “use of a firearms during a crime of violence.”

Six Somalis, including Ibrahim, were arrested by the US navy after they opened fire on the USS Ashland in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia on 10th April. The US naval vessel returned fire, sinking the pirate vessel and killing one of its passengers.

The six detained Somalis were later indicted on eight counts that included piracy. But earlier this month, a US federal judge dismissed the piracy and four other charges pressed against them, ruling that the prosecutors had failed to show that the men had violated US piracy law.

Ibrahim’s five co-defendants in the case are still being prosecuted. He now faces a maximum of 30 years in prison when sentenced on 29th November. With his guilty plea entered Friday, Ibrahim became the first man to be convicted on piracy-related charges in Norfolk in over 150 years.

Separately, five other Somali men have been charged in Virginia for attacking another US naval vessel, USS Nicholas, on 31st March. All the eleven defendants are being held in custody in Virginia, pending court procedures.

In May, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, another Somali pirate captured by the U.S. military pleaded guilty in a federal court in Manhattan to charges pressed against him in connection with the hijacking of an American container off the coast of Africa in 2009. He faces a maximum sentence of almost 34 years in prison when he is sentenced on 19th October.

Until recently, pirates detained in international operations off the African coast were generally tried in Kenya, which neighbors Somalia. The move to try the eleven suspects in the United States came after Kenya indicated that it was planning to stop such trials as its courts are becoming overloaded with pirate cases from Somalia.

Kenya shares its southern border with Somalia, whose coastline has been infected with piracy in recent years. More than 160 pirate attacks were reported in the waters off Somalia from the beginning of last year.

The Somali coast, particularity the Gulf of Aden, has been affected by piracy in recent years. The Somali pirates have managed to hijack at least 34 vessels this year, and are currently holding some 10 ships and 200 hostages. Generally, the crew and the vessels are returned unharmed on receiving the demanded ransom.

Pirate attacks off the Somali coast have continued despite the presence of several warships, deployed by navies of the NATO, the European Union, Russia, China, South Korea and India, in the region to protect cargo and cruise ships against piracy.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre’s government in 1991. Currently, a weak UN-backed interim government under President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is trying to enforce its authority in the country, most of which is controlled by various Islamist insurgent groups.

The UN Security Council has approved four resolutions since June last year to promote international efforts in fighting the escalating piracy problem off the coast of Somalia, authorizing countries involved in anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast to conduct land and air attacks on Somali pirates after obtaining prior permission from the interim Somali government. ref: RTTNews