“Muse himself addressed the court, apologised for his actions and said that he had been led astray by certain people who were smarter than him and more powerful than him.” “Muse’s attorneys had tried to argue that he should get a more lenient sentence, saying he was very young when the crime occurred, and also that he grew up in terrible conditions, in extreme poverty,” Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from the court, said. However, a judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence of Muse being at least 18 and that he could be tried as an adult. Muse’s lawyers have argued he was only in his mid-teens at the time of the crime. Prosecutors described Muse as a hardened pirate leader who displayed a cruel streak when he pretended to shoot captives. Muse – the sole surviving pirate after others were killed by US Navy marksmen – was extradited to the US following the April 2009 attack in which kidnapped Captain Richard Phillips was rescued while three captors around him were shot dead by sailors on another vessel. The hijacking of ships near the coast of Somalia has cost the shipping industry millions of dollars Ī teenage Somali pirate who attacked a US-flagged ship in 2009 has been sentenced to more than 33 years in prison.Ībduwali Abdukhadir Muse was charged with kidnapping, hijacking and hostage-taking for his role in the seizure of the Maersk Alabama container ship and two other vessels in the Indian Ocean.įederal Judge Loretta Preska on Wednesday cited the need for deterrence in issuing the sentence of 33 years and nine months. Muse’s lawyers had asked for the minimum term, 27 years.
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