Sunday, October 18, 2009
Five of them were handed over earlier this month by the French navy, which said they had attacked its La Somme flagship in the Indian Ocean.
"The pirates, five of whom were recently transferred by the French forces, were brought in front of the high court of Bosasso," the economic capital of Puntland, senior Puntland security official Mohamed Rashid Adan told AFP.
"They were charged with involvement in armed robbery, kidnapping and piracy. They were sent to jail after admitting to the crimes," he said.
Judge Mohamed Abdi Aware gave his verdict and said that the five handed over by France would serve five years in prison and the others three years.
Somali pirates tried to attack the French navy's 18,000 tonne, 160-metre (525-foot) command vessel on October 7 from two small skiffs after mistaking it for a cargo ship, according to a French naval spokesman.
According to US military statement issued at the end of September, naval alliances had since August 2008 apprehended and released 343 suspected pirates, detained and transferred for prosecution 212 others and killed 11.
Somali pirates currently hold six ships, including a Singapore container ship, a Spanish trawler, a Taiwanese fishing vessel and Ukrainian, German and Turkish freighters.
The authorities of Puntland have since 2008 jailed more than 70 suspected pirates, many of them handed over by the foreign navies.
Source: AFP, Oct 18, 2009