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Somali Pirate Gets 41 Year Sentence for USN Ship Attack
A federal judge sentenced a convicted Somali pirate to 41 1/2 years in prison after rejecting a prosecutor's call for a mandatory life prison term. Mohamed Ali Said, 30, was convicted along with five other Somali men of piracy and related charges in the April 2010 attack on the dock landing ship Ashland. Attorneys for Said and the five others argued that the mandatory life prison term violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson agreed and sentenced all five last Wednesday and Thursday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Hatch argued that life in prison was appropriate, calling the attack extremely harsh and heinous and adding that Said has shown no remorse or acceptance of responsibility. "Obviously the court has a different view of matters," U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson responded. Said's attorney said his client had nothing to say. Said had previously argued that he was not a pirate and was working as a smuggler when the skiff he was on approached the Ashland off the Somali coast. Prosecutors said the Somalis mistook the Ashland for a commercial vessel when they opened fire on it in the pre-dawn darkness in an attempt to take its crew hostage in exchange for ransom. One of the Somalis admitted that was their plan. No sailors were injured, but a seventh Somali was killed when the Ashland returned fire with its 25mm cannon, blowing up the skiff. Posted by: Pappy 2014-05-19 |
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