A Somali teenager captured by US forces in a high-seas drama and brought to New York has been ordered to stand trial here as an adult on piracy charges that could put him in jail for life.
Abdi Wali Abdi Khadir Muse, wearing a blue T-shirt and with head lowered as he entered federal court Tuesday with an interpreter, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge of piracy, prosecutors said.
Judge Andrew Peck ruled the young Somali would be tried as an adult after rejecting a claim by the defendant's father that Muse was only 15 years old. Prosecutors said he was over 18.
"Mr Muse's father's testimony was not credible," said Peck. "The court ruled that the defendant must be treated as an adult."
The five charges filed against Muse were piracy "under the law of nations," conspiracy to seize a ship by force, conspiracy to take hostages, and discharging and brandishing a firearm in the course of a hostage-taking.
"An act of piracy against one nation is a crime against all nations. Pirates target ships and cargo, but threaten international commerce and human life," said prosecutor Lev Dassin in a statement.
"Today's charges demonstrate our commitment to hold pirates accountable for their crimes."
Muse could well spend the rest of his life behind bars unless acquitted. The piracy charge alone carries a mandatory life sentence, while three other charges carry maximum sentences of life in prison.
Muse was allegedly one of four Somali pirates who boarded the US container ship Maersk Alabama on April 8, and later fled taking its American captain, Richard Phillips, as a hostage in a small life boat.
Muse, who prosecutors described as the group's leader, was taken into custody April 12 after he boarded the USS Bainbridge to demand safe passage in return for Phillips's release.
On the fifth day of the ordeal, US Navy snipers shot dead the other three pirates and rescued Phillips.
The Maersk Alabama saga captured the world's attention and vividly highlighted the dangers posed by low-tech pirates in some of the world's most strategic shipping lanes.
The incident was unusual because the unarmed, all-American crew fought back and prevented the pirates from taking control of their vessel.
An issue surrounding Muse's capture and the unusual decision to try him in the US courts was his age.
Reports out of New York said he was 19. But Voice of America reported that his father, Abdilkadir Muse, said his son was 16 years old, and had not been in previous trouble.
A court-appointed lawyer, Phil Weinstein, told the court he had spoken to the alleged pirate's father by telephone.
"He says his son was born on November 20, 1993," which would make him 15, Weinstein said.
The hijacking of the Maersk Alabama was an early test of US President Barack Obama and has prompted calls for tightened measures to protect US ships in the busy shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa.
Muse's court appearance comes as other Somali pirates on Tuesday released an Asian chemical tanker they captured five months ago.
But they are still holding at least 17 other ships, with a total of nearly 300 hostages, as high-seas attacks in 2009 soared to record levels.
"Modern-day pirates bear little resemblance to the swashbuckling anti-heroes of popular fiction. The pirates who boarded the Maersk Alabama were armed hijackers who robbed the ship, threatened the crew and held the captain hostage at gunpoint," said Joseph Demarest at the FBI.
Meanwhile in London, a British think-tank released a paper Wednesday warning that action by foreign navies against pirates could not provide a long-term solution, and that piracy off Somalia's coast will not be brought under control until rule of law is restored in the troubled Horn of Africa nation.
"Only addressing the root causes, including the internal problems of the country, will offer a way to stop piracy," author Roger Middleton wrote in the Chatham House note.
Somalia has lacked an effective central government since plunging into civil war with the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre.
Source: AFP
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