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| Somali pirates sentenced to life in American prison |
| 2011-12-16 |
| NORFOLK, Va.--A former Somali police officer and an electrician whose job it was to bless their expedition were sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for their roles in the hijacking of a yacht that left all four Americans on board dead. Mohamud Hirs Issa Ali was the commander of a band of 19 pirates that hijacked the 58-foot Quest in February several hundred miles south of Oman. The pirates intended to bring the Americans back to Somalia where a bilingual interpreter would negotiate a ransom payment. But the owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death several days after being taken hostage. It was the first time U.S. citizens have been killed in the pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in recent years. The Americans were killed after U.S. warships started shadowing the Quest and negotiations between the Navy and the pirates broke down. I guess we're being merciful since we decided not to execute the pirates. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #11 Life in an American prison is probably still better than living in Somalia. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2011-12-16 22:05 |
| #10 If it was me they would've been, I dunno,..."abducted by aliens" or sumthin. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-12-16 21:57 |
| #9 The blog chronicling Jean and Scott Adam's journey around the world is still up, for anyone who's interested. Too bad it had to end like this. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2011-12-16 17:53 |
| #8 An underwater detention facility with sharks and crabs for guards. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-12-16 16:14 |
| #7 In Somalia, this is the equivalent of winning the Lotto. |
| Posted by: mojo 2011-12-16 15:39 |
| #6 for three squares a day, why wouldn't you hijack a ship? |
| Posted by: jack salami 2011-12-16 11:06 |
| #5 Not exactly what I had in mind. Just helicopters leaving with pirates, and returning without pirates. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-12-16 10:58 |
| #4 Halal meals and a an arrow pointing to Mecca for the next 50 years. And for God sakes, dirty infidel screws, don't touch their Korans. |
| Posted by: Ulose Munster2089 2011-12-16 08:52 |
| #3 The best way around this problem is for the USN to arrange a "shore detention" for captured pirates, that involves a special unit with an indeterminate and unmemorable nomenclature, to transport the pirates via helicopter to a classified "detention facility" in some undetermined place. The helicopter leaves with its cargo of pirates, and returns to the ship empty, with the pirates "no longer under US jurisdiction, so are no longer accountable". |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-12-16 08:39 |
| #2 Next thing we know they're going to be put in a CA jail .... |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-12-16 02:10 |
| #1 Does this mean I have to pay for their meals and housing? To quote Hanover Fist, "Gimme a break!" |
| Posted by: imoyaro 2011-12-16 01:54 |