Conference and Arrests

At the end of October the six men on trial in Spain were convicted of piracy related charges, and at the beginning of November another trial began in the USA. There was also the arrest in Belgium of Mohamed Abdi Hassan (also known as "Afweyne" or Big Mouth). Hassan was arrested at the Brussels airport on 12th October after been invited to Belgium on the ruse of becoming an advisor on a film about piracy around the Horn of Africa. Others who may be involved with piracy have also recently been invited to Belgium but there will be no actual trial of them, they are attending a conference hosted by Environmental Justice Foundation on illegal fishing. Pirate fishing around the Horn of Africa is a key focus at the November conference and countries that are criticised as not taken action against IUUs (or 'pirate' vessels) are attending. 

Spain, in publicity about the conference, is listed as one of those countries, however it was in Spain that the six men were sentenced just under a month ago - one man to 12-and-a-half years in prison and the other five to eight years in jail each. The men have been in Spain awaiting trial since October 2012 so have already served one year. In 2011 two men convicted of piracy by a Spanish court received sentences of 439 years each.

The trial in the US is of a former Washington DC resident, Ali Mohamed Ali, who is charged with helping Somali pirates who seized a Danish cargo vessel in November 2008. His defence is that he was actually working for the US as an intelligence source. Ali is charged with piracy, conspiracy, attacking a vessel and hostage-taking, and faces life in prison if convicted. He has been held in jail for two and a half years. Another person, Mohammad Saaili Shibin, charged in the American courts with negotiating was convicted in August 2012 and sentenced to "10 concurrent life sentences...two consecutive life sentences...10 years consecutive...and two 20-year sentences... and is also required to pay restitution in the amount of approximately $5,408,000US."

The event promises to offer a lively debate on where responsibilities lie in taking urgent measures to tackle IUU fishing, which costs the global economy an estimated US$ 10 to 23.5 billion and represents between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish. - See more at: http://www.thefishsite.com/fishnews/21697/landmark-event-encourages-eu-member-states-to-take-stronger-action-on-illegal-fishing#sthash.mqxrp5QY.dpuf

Publicity about the Environmental Justice Foundation says the conference will involved 'a lively debate on where responsibilities lie in taking urgent measures to tackle IUU fishing, which costs the global economy an estimated US$ 10 to 23.5 billion and represents between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish'.

The event promises to offer a lively debate on where responsibilities lie in taking urgent measures to tackle IUU fishing, which costs the global economy an estimated US$ 10 to 23.5 billion and represents between 11 and 26 million tonnes of fish. - See more at: http://www.thefishsite.com/fishnews/21697/landmark-event-encourages-eu-member-states-to-take-stronger-action-on-illegal-fishing#sthash.mqxrp5QY.dpuf

The Trials in Europe

In the first week of September nine men went on trial in the Netherlands, charged with piracy and attempted murder.They were the remainder of a group of 16 arrested in April 2011 after a gunfire battled with Dutch marines based on the warship Tromp. The Somali were supposedly on board an Iranian fishing vessel. Two Somali men were killed in the gun battle and buried at sea by the crew of the Tromp, seven released and the remaining nine were taken to the Netherlands.

The trial is expected to last less than a month, and if convicted the men face life imprisonment.

This is not the first courtcase in the Netherlands and it will not be the last.

The Netherlands has the dubious honour of being the first European country to try people for 'Somali' piracy - that was the trial of five men arrested in 2009, in June 2010 they were sentenced to five years imprisonment each. The next trial was in August 2011 of five men arrested in November 2010, they received sentences of between four and seven years. One of the people said he was only 13 years old; 'experts' put his age at between 14 and 15 years.

Meanwhile, the Dutch navy arrested another group of alleged Somali pirates last month in the Somalian coastal waters and the group are now in the process of being transported to Rotterdam for trial. (Another group, arrested in July by the Dutch navy, were taken to Oman for trial).

The trial in Italy of nine men is also continuing. The nine are facing not only piracy-related charges but also terrorism. The prosecution are trying to argue that the ransom money was intended for Al-Shabaab.

The four teenagers arrested at the same time as the nine men, were tried separately in a Rome juvenile court. The judge did not accept the charge of terrorism against the youth, but they were found guilty of attempted hi-jacking and were each sentenced to eight years in prison.

In Belgium, a man arrested on DNA evidence was sentenced in January this year to ten years imprisonment.

And in Germany, after a trial lasting nearly a hundred days of actual court appearances, the trial of ten people in Hamburg is nearing an end.

Sitting in Prison

Six Somali men arrested off the coast of Somalia on January 12th are now sitting in prison in Spain after allegedly attacking the Atalanta Flagship, Patina. (Spain is currently leading Atalanta, having replaced Germany in December 2011).  The men say they are fishermen and that one of their group was killed by the Spanish military.

The charges they face include attempted piracy and disobeying a warship. No trial date has yet been set.

Meanwhile in Hamburg, Germany, the prosecution has rested its case and called for sentences ranging from seven to eleven years for the adult men on trial and  between four and five and a half years for the under-age defendants. The court case is set to continue until the end of March.

And in Belgium, the Brussels Court of Appeal upheld the sentence of ten years given in July last year against the one person on trial there. He had been arrested in November 2009 on the basis of DNA evidence held in the Interpol collection. The collection of DNA samples of suspected Somali "pirates" was officially established in mid-2010 after an anti-pirate conference in South Korea.

Many northern Hemisphere and western countries oppose the collection of DNA samples from their own  population, but allow their own navies and military to build databases of Somali people in Africa and their border agencies to build databases of refugees and people seeking asylum.

'Pirates' sentenced in Paris

On Wednesday, 30 November, five Somali men were sentenced in France to between four and eight years for hijacking a French yacht and taking the crew hostage in September 2008, three years ago. The five were originally part of a group of seven, however one man was killed at the time of the incident, and one other was acquited on Wednesday. He gets to return home, the other five continue their stay in French prisons.

During the week and a half trial (held in a Paris juvenile court as one of the defendents was under 18 when arrested) a psychiatrist gave evidence about the stress and difficulties the men were having being locked-up so far away from their homeland. Most of the men had had no contact with their families since their arrest. One man had set fire to his cell, the psychiatrist said that the best treatment would be for him to be back with his family in his cultural milieu.

This was the first modern piracy trial in France, however it will not be the last. There are currently 15 other Somali men and teenagers awaiting trial in three seperate piracy cases.

It is not the first piracy trial in Europe either.

In the Netherlands there has already been two trials. Five men, arrested in 2009 were sentenced in June 2010 to five years imprisonment. Five others, arrested in November 2010 were sentenced in August 2011 to terms ranging from four to seven years. 14 other men are currently on trial in two seperate court cases.

In Belgium one man has been on trial since May 2010. He was arrested in November 2009 on the basis of DNA evidence.

There have been ten men on trial in Germany since November 2010, they were arrested in April 2010. Their case is also been held in a juvenile court as three of the defendents were teenagers when arrested, one was younger than 14.

In Spain two men were arrested in October 2009 and sentenced to 439 years each in May 2011.