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| US jury convicts 5 Somalis in Navy ship attack |
| 2010-11-24 |
| NORFOLK, Va. – Five Somali men accused of attacking a U.S. Navy ship off Africa's coast were convicted on federal piracy charges Monday, in what experts said was the first trial of its kind since the Civil War. The verdict was handed down by a jury in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. The five men stood silently as the verdict was read. They face mandatory life terms at a sentencing hearing set for March 14 in Norfolk. Defense lawyers had argued the men were innocent fishermen who had been abducted by pirates and forced to fire their weapons at the ship. John S. Davis, an assistant U.S. attorney, had argued that three of the men were in a skiff that opened fire on the Nicholas with assault rifles, then fled when sailors returned fire with machine guns. He said all the men later confessed to the attack in a confession to an interpreter aboard the Nicholas. He said they expected to make anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000 from the ransom. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #5 Q-dhows to the Russians for thinking this up. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-11-24 23:12 |
| #4 Rambler you are so right There was a rumour going round that a "death ship" of russian black-ops military, disguised as a trading dhow, was cruising the Gulf of Aden. When pirates attack, they pop out their AK47s and those pirates are never heard from again. rumour started in Djibouti where they allegedly stopped for fuel/resupply |
| Posted by: anon1 2010-11-24 22:56 |
| #3 anon1, especially as pirates, if they run into the wrong people - like the Russians |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2010-11-24 20:37 |
| #2 they probably have a longer life expectancy, better diet and easier life incarcerated in a US prison than they did back in Somalia |
| Posted by: anon1 2010-11-24 17:54 |
| #1 But...but...but...This is just one of their "quaint tribal customs," and not a crime at all, in the context of their cockroach like lives. Like hand chopping, and stoning, and genital mutilation, and child marriages, and goat fancy. Nothing to see here, your honor... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-11-24 16:09 |