BERBERA (Somalilandpress) — A court in Somalia handed out 15-year prison sentences to 11 pirates on Sunday, the presiding judge said.

Prosecutors at the court in Berbera, in the breakaway northern state of Somaliland, brought a number of charges against the men, including piracy and attempted armed kidnapping.

They showed the court photos obtained from NATO naval forces showing the pirates when they were arrested last December.

“The trial, which lasted a week, was finally concluded today after the evidence brought before the court showed that the eleven were involved in piracy and hijacking. The court finally announced its verdict — a jail term of 15 years each”, Osman Ibrahim Dahir, the presiding judge, told AFP by phone from Berbera.

The pirates were detained last December after they attacked an international naval force ship mistaking it for a commercial ship off the Somali coast.
[ad#Google Adsense (336×280)]
The international forces released them after disarming them, but they were arrested against a few days later by Somaliland coastguards who spotted them in a coastal village near Djibouti.

“Some of the pirates confessed their crimes while others were still reluctant to confess, but they were sentenced and sent to jail,” Jamal Abdikarin, security officer in Berbera told AFP by phone.

Source: AFP, 14th February 2010

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

1 COMMENT

  1. Having a prison in Somaliland for pirates. Is this really what we need? We started our courty (Somaliland) from the grass root. However, we have done a lot and gained a lot eg Education, health and re-building our Country. Unfortuntely that's gonna disappear soon since we' getting involved in western foreign policy.The British will be more honest and interesting than Us, the Arabs or any other country.
    Can somebody explain why they using our ports and cities to hunt down the pirates?!
    Let's not also forget unless we get a recognition they' just going to use us and leave us. When they obviously turn us against the rest of Somalia.

    We don't need no-ones help to re-build our country. We have done a lot within 20 years. I'm sure we can do better in the next 20 years with Allah' help.