Yeah, but NATO had to release them!
Related: NATO Lets Pirates Go
Tall Pirate Tales From Somalia
"US charges Somali teen under old piracy law; Regulation was last used in 1885" by Larry Neumeister, Associated Press | April 23, 2009
NEW YORK - When US prosecutors brought piracy charges against a teenager from Somalia, they dusted off a law that has been on the books since George Washington was president and used only sparingly since then.
The law's obscurity, the lack of recent precedent, and the murky definitions of what constitutes piracy could present challenges to law enforcement. But prosecutors also boosted their case with more common nonpiracy charges that could lead to a long prison sentence, even if the piracy count doesn't stick.
The government "threw pretty much everything they had at this guy because I think they wanted to hedge their bets," said Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at Northwestern University Law School.
In a criminal complaint, prosecutors depicted Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse as the brazen ringleader of a band of four pirates who bullied 20 crew members of an American-flagged cargo ship, fired a shot at the captain, and boasted of hijacking other ships. They said he executed the maneuver like a veteran pirate, stealing $30,000 from a safe and demanding that the crew give him the phone number of the ship's owner.
Muse's family says he is an impressionable minor who fell under the sway of older pirates and is being unfairly targeted by the US government. There are varying accounts of his age - his lawyers say 15, his parents say 16, and the government says at least 18. The judge heard testimony from his father via telephone from Somalia and from government officials Tuesday before determining Muse should be tried as an adult.
Kontorovich said the piracy statute filed against Muse has been around since 1791, but hasn't been used since 1885.--more--"
Oh, yeah, about the Somali suffering:
"Donors pledge over $250m for Somalia" by Associated Press | April 24, 2009
BRUSSELS - International donors pledged more than $250 million yesterday to strengthen Somalia's security forces and try to stop the rampant attacks by armed Somali pirates that have plagued one of the world's most important waterways.
The hefty sum, which included funding for military equipment and material as well as development aid, exceeded the initial request made by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon....
Any FOOD in there?
Stabilizing Somalia was the focus of the meeting, but the near-daily pirate attacks along Somalia's coastline that endanger ships from around the world immediately moved to the forefront of the discussions.
"Piracy is a symptom of anarchy and insecurity on the ground," Ban told the delegates. "More security on the ground will make less piracy on the seas." Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed pledged to do "everything imaginable" to stabilize Somalia and fight piracy.
Yeah, odd that the Islamic Courts guy (how come MSM covers that up?) and his group shut that down for six months after they ran off our CIA warlords and before Ethiopia invaded and deposed them at the behest of the U.S.
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So what are they doing with these guys?
"Piracy suspects appear in Kenya courts; 18 Somalis held after capture by French, Germans" by Katharine Houreld, Associated Press | April 24, 2009
MOMBASA, Kenya - Shabbily dressed and solemn, 18 Somali men nabbed at sea and hauled ashore by European navies crowded into a Mombasa courthouse yesterday to face piracy charges that could put them behind bars for life.
Kenya appeared to be ramping up prosecutions amid talk of establishing an international piracy tribunal in the country that borders Somalia, the lawless epicenter of a flourishing pirate industry off the Horn of Africa. The hearings came as a US court this week brought its first piracy charges in over a century, charging a skinny Somali teenager with participating in an attack on the American cargo ship Maersk Alabama.
At a hearing in Mombasa, it was the first court appearance for 11 Somali men tracked down by French commandos and seized April 14 in a predawn raid as they ate breakfast in their skiffs in waters off Somalia. The pirate suspects had been marched off a French frigate Wednesday and handed over to authorities in Mombasa.
The French had also handed over the pirates' captured equipment: two skiffs, three grappling hooks, four rusty assault rifles, two bags of bullets and a ladder. Magistrate Catherine Mwangi adjourned their case until a bail hearing May 27. They will remain in a Mombasa jail until then. She also demanded that officials give the men fresh clothing for their bail hearing.
Next door, seven other suspected pirates listened to witnesses testify against them. German sailors had captured the men in late March after they reportedly attacked a German naval supply ship. Kenya is also holding another trial involving pirate suspects handed over by Britain.
In other efforts to stamp out piracy in Somalia, which has not had an effective government since 1991, donors at a conference in Brussels pledged over $250 million yesterday to improve Somalia's internal security.
Yeah, no effective government -- save for the six months the Islamics ruled.
Thanks for the omission, MSM.
Experts believe the underlying causes of piracy - unemployment, few options, and insecurity on land - drive young men into a life of seafaring crime.
Nothing about the NUCLEAR WASTE DUMPING, huh? Another omission!
And does the MSM make such excuses for "Muslim terrorists," readers?
That should tell you something right there.
Under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, any country can try a piracy case irrespective of the pirates' nationalities or the vessel they hijacked. Most countries with navies patrolling off the coast of Somalia have ratified the convention, as has Kenya, but the US has not.
Legal specialists said the concept of an international piracy tribunal appeared to be gaining traction. "Kenya has applied to have a center to fight against piracy here in Mombasa," government spokesman Alfred Mutua acknowledged yesterday.
Kenya has laid the groundwork for such a tribunal by striking deals with the European Union and the United States that allows it to try suspected pirates captured by navies from those countries.Translation: NATO LIED when they said they had no authority to hold pirates.
Why, readers?
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Update:
Who cares, anyway? Amurkns love Pirates!!!!
"Adventure on the high seas, today; Pirates push other stories off front pages" by Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press | April 26, 2009
NEW YORK - We're in the midst of a crippling recession. The CIA is under fire over its interrogation techniques. And US policy toward Cuba is undergoing change. But one of the most-followed news stories of late? Pirates on the high seas.
And WHO is RESPONSIBLE for THAT, you piece-of-crap.... Aaaaaaaarrrggghh!!!!!!!!
Some who study pop culture suspect that's at least partly a reflection of America's longtime fascination with buccaneers and swashbuckling cutthroats. "Pirates! It's not as good as aliens, but close," said Marty Kaplan, professor at the Norman Lear Center of the University of Southern California, which studies the impact of entertainment on society....
Yup, I TOLD you it is ALL A SHOW!!!!!!!!
Actor Johnny Depp in ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.'' The news about the Somali pirate saga has intensified America's fascination with pirates. (Peter Mountain/ Walt Disney Pictures via Associated Press)
Related: Somalia Agenda Exposed: Pirate TV Show
How AmeriKa's MSM is Like the Movies
How can ANYONE POSSIBLY TAKE this AGENDA-PUSHING BULLSHIT RUSE seriously anymore, people?
Meanwhile, a Navy spokesman said yesterday that pirates have seized a German-owned ship in the pirate-infested waters between Somalia and Yemen.
They seized another ship, readers? Pffffttt!
That ain't no movie -- or is it? Funny thing is, somewhere on this page Germany is saying Taliban threat isn't as great as jewpress hype and bingo -- ship hijacked -- always carrying food, never weapons, notice that, unless it's some designated enemy, right, who never sends food and aid, only weaponry?
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Meanwhile, on land....
"Mortars hit near Somali Parliament; at least 7 die" by Mohamed Olad Hassan, Associated Press | April 26, 2009
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Mortars fired toward Somalia's Parliament missed the building but hit a police unit inside the compound as well as a residential neighborhood, killing at least seven people, according to witnesses and officials.
Parliament was in session at the time of the attack, though the prime minister and speaker had just left.... Witnesses in the neighborhood counted at least six dead. Resident Abdirahman Hassan described how "mortars started to rain down on our village."
"One of them hit a house, killing three children from the same family," he said. "In another place, two people were killed by the mortars." The explosions flattened a home in another part of the neighborhood, killing an 11-year-old boy inside, said Abdirahman Shikeh Isse, a relative.
Isse and Hassan counted 17 injured, while Dumaal said at least four police officers had also been injured, bringing the number of injured to at least 21. Somalia, an arid country on the Horn of Africa, has not had an effective central government in nearly 20 years, since warlords deposed dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Except for the six months the Islamics routed or murdering, raping, and looting CIA warlords who are now the priates, but I get tired of repeatedly typing the same shit....
Until January, the parliament had been based in the southwest town of Baidoa while Islamic insurgents controlled most of Mogadishu. Lawmakers were forced to return to the capital after Baidoa was captured on Jan. 26 by Al-Shabab, an Islamic group on Washington's list of terror organizations.
Uh-huh: Somalia's Al-Shabab IS "Al-CIA-Duh"
It never fucking ends!!!!!!
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Ah, U.S. will just have to occupy, right?