Magistrate to sentence suspected Somali pirates

The fate of seven suspected Somali pirates will be known today. The seven were arrested in October 2009 after they attempted to hijack a fishing trawler off the Gulf of Aden. Magistrate Joyce Gandani on Monday afternoon told Barre Ali Farah, Abdi Mohammed, Ali Hussein Hassan, Abdulkarim Nur Shire, Bashir Mohammed Ehmi, Abdulrazak Abdullahi Ali and Abdulfaruk Hussein Ali that she will announce her ruling today.

The seven, represented by lawyer Jared Magolo, are accused of attacking Captain St Vincene and threatening the lives of the crew. They were armed with knives and a grappling hook at the time of the attack. Magolo asked the court to release the suspects who have spent four years in prison pending the determination of their case.“The purpose of any sentence is to reform those who have been convicted. This is one rare case where the trial has achieved what the sentence would have achieved.

They have been reformed,” said Magolo. Magolo said the Somalis should be released to help build peace in their motherland as holding them would only burden the taxpayers. “My clients are remorseful. They have vowed to go back to Somali and contribute to the nation building,” he said. The state counsel Catherine Mwaniki trashed claims by the defense team that two of the Somalis were under age at the time of arrest.