Pirate gets twelve life sentences
A federal judge in Norfolk, VA handed a pirate chief 12 life sentences in the piracy case of a German merchant vessel and US yacht in 2010 during which four Americans were murdered and the crew of the German vessel were tortured to up the ransom, according to the Associated Press;
“I think this case explodes the myth, if still it exists out there, that pirates are some kind of romantic swashbuckling characters from Hollywood summer movies. This case showed that pirates are brutal, greedy, reckless, desperate criminals who will kidnap, torture and ultimately kill hostages in pursuit of their financial greed,” U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said after sentencing.
The yacht owners, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were the first U.S. citizens killed in a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean despite a regular patrol of international warships. Negotiations with a U.S. Navy ship that was shadowing the Quest were underway when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at it and shots aboard the yacht rang out. By the time Navy SEALs scrambled onboard the boat, the Americans had already been shot.
Ten of the life sentences will run concurrently and two consecutively and Mohammad Saaili Shibin, the pirate, was also ordered to pay $5.4 million in restitution. Prosecutors are saving the death sentence for three others who actually pulled the triggers.
Category: Pirates
I’d much rather summary execution and overboard for shark food. They deserve nothing better
Exterminating pirates? Sounds like a job for Marines Corps –
reminiscent of earlier times. Drones w/hellfires also being employed on wide scale.
Pirates should not be allowed to breathe or breed, they are declaring war by blocking international waters and taking hostages. As #1 suggested, turn them to chum for sharks.
When they capture these idiots, kill all of them but one, and let him go so he can go back and tell the others. frepeat as necessary.
I like the Russian method – “We set them free in a boat, don’t know what happened to them”.
I like Hack’s idea, except kill all but two. One goes back to tell the others, and one gets kept Road Warrior style, strapped to the bow of whatever warship did the dirty work. Sort of a floating advertisement if you will.
5.4 million, good luck getting water out of a dry well. Unless that tribe he belongs to and the stash he has the money to pay up.
Private boat ??? Didn’t we run over a whale ? Question of the day, what do you paint on the ship,the skull and cross bones or what? Joe
From the article:
“Shibin attorney James Broccoletti said he will appeal the conviction. He believes the definition of piracy may ultimately have to be decided by the Supreme Court. At issue is whether piracy can only occur if someone commits robbery at sea or whether a broader definition applies.
U.S. law refers to piracy only “as defined by the law of nations.”
In May, a federal appeals court ruled in another case that an armed attack on a U.S. vessel can be considered piracy even if no one ever boards or robs the ship. In Shibin’s case, he never set out to sea or boarded the Quest. Instead, he researched the victims online from shore to determine how large of a ransom to seek for them. In the case of the German ship, he didn’t board it until after it had already been hijacked by other pirates and was in Somali waters.
“He’s never been on the high seas and so I think that eventually the Supreme Court’s going to have to decide in the modern era what is piracy, what is the law of piracy, what does one have to do to be guilty of piracy,” he said.”
It’s pretty easy to figure out, Mr. Broccoletti. If he walks like a pirate, talks like a pirate, acts and schemes like a pirate, and benefits from being a pirate, then he’s a pirate. Pretty effin’ simple.
Of course, the chickenshit little scumbag ex-pirate didn’t have anything to say.
Wrap ’em in bacon, turn ’em into chum. Send the DVD to everyone in the region.
Problem solved.
Shackle cannonballs to their ankles and drop them off two miles from shore. It’s sea water, right? They should be buoyant enough to swim back.
As I recall, ship’s captains at one time could conduct trials at sea and pronounce sentences. Perhaps we should again allow that – plus immediate implementation of sentence imposed – for the crime of piracy.
Hang ’em. Publicly. Then leave the body in the noose until it rots off. Then dispose of what’s left of the remains.
How about having our drones cruise around the area and any vessel not flying a recognized flag with a valid registration be shot on sight with missiles. Of course this would only happen in international waters.