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Somali man found not guilty of piracy in 2008 ship hijack
Source: Associated Press
Somali man found not guilty of piracy in 2008 ship hijack
Associated Press in Washington
theguardian.com, Tuesday 26 November 2013 22.01 GMT
A federal jury Tuesday found a Somali man who acted as a negotiator for pirates aboard a hijacked ship not guilty of piracy, but had not yet reached a verdict on two lesser charges.
Ali Mohamed Ali, 51, who would have faced a mandatory life sentence if convicted of piracy, smiled and embraced one of his lawyers after the verdict was announced. He then removed his glasses and dabbed his eyes. A friend in the courtroom sobbed. Ali has been held in a DC jail for more than two and a half years.
US district judge Ellen Huvelle told the jurors, who began deliberations last Wednesday, to continue deliberating on two remaining charges of hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit hostage-taking. Both of those charges carry potential, but not mandatory life sentences, and Ali is unlikely to receive a life sentence even if the jury convicts him on those charges.
Ali negotiated a ransom for Somali pirates during a 2008 pirate takeover of a Danish merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden. At the time of his 2011 arrest, he was the education minister in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, but he has spent most of his adult life in the United States.
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Associated Press in Washington
theguardian.com, Tuesday 26 November 2013 22.01 GMT
A federal jury Tuesday found a Somali man who acted as a negotiator for pirates aboard a hijacked ship not guilty of piracy, but had not yet reached a verdict on two lesser charges.
Ali Mohamed Ali, 51, who would have faced a mandatory life sentence if convicted of piracy, smiled and embraced one of his lawyers after the verdict was announced. He then removed his glasses and dabbed his eyes. A friend in the courtroom sobbed. Ali has been held in a DC jail for more than two and a half years.
US district judge Ellen Huvelle told the jurors, who began deliberations last Wednesday, to continue deliberating on two remaining charges of hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit hostage-taking. Both of those charges carry potential, but not mandatory life sentences, and Ali is unlikely to receive a life sentence even if the jury convicts him on those charges.
Ali negotiated a ransom for Somali pirates during a 2008 pirate takeover of a Danish merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden. At the time of his 2011 arrest, he was the education minister in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, but he has spent most of his adult life in the United States.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/26/somali-man-not-guilty-piracy
