WASHINGTON — A US court sentenced five Somali pirates to life in prison on Monday for attacking an American frigate last year on an anti-piracy mission off the east coast of Africa.The Somalis, the first people to be convicted of piracy in the United States since 1820, received an additional 80 years each for firearms and other piracy-related charges during a four-hour hearing in Norfolk, Virginia. Piracy carries a mandatory sentence in the United States of life in prison, while firearms charges and the plundering charge carry sentences of 30 years to life.
Defense lawyers had contested the piracy conviction, arguing that the Somalis were simply fishermen who had been abducted by pirates and forced to take part in the attack.