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Federal jury begins deliberations in Somali piracy case involving deaths of 4 Americans

April 27, 2012 · 276284 Comments2012-04-27+19%3A36%3A10goth+Mohamed

By Associated Press, Published: April 27
NORFOLK, Va. — A federal jury began deliberations on Friday in the trial a Somali man accused of being a pirate negotiator involved in an attack on a U.S. yacht in which all four Americans on board were eventually shot and killed.
Mohammad Saaili Shibin faces piracy, kidnapping and hostage-taking charges in connection with the 2011 hijacking of the Quest off the coast of Africa.
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 regular international patrols by warships.
Negotiations with the U.S. Navy were under way when shots were fired aboard the yacht. The Navy had agreed to let the pirates take the yacht in exchange for the hostages, but court documents say the men didn’t think they would get the amount of money they had sought from the exchange.
Hostages are typically ransomed for millions of dollars.
Prosecutors said it was Shibin who was responsible for researching the American hostages online to decide how large of a ransom to seek for them, although he never boarded the yacht. The pirates onboard the Quest told the Navy that they couldn’t negotiate the release of the Americans and gave U.S. authorities Shibin’s phone number to contact as the person in charge.
Shibin attorney James Broccoletti argued that Shibin couldn’t be convicted of piracy because he never boarded the yacht and didn’t commit robbery at sea. He also said he never agreed to be the hostage negotiator, even though he was offered the job by pirate investors.
Prosecutors noted that Shibin made 82 calls to the investors who funded the piracy expedition from the time the Quest was captured.
Shibin is also charged with piracy in the 2010 hijacking of a German merchant vessel in which crew members were tortured while a ransom was negotiated. Prosecutors say Shibin earned between $30,000 and $50,000 for his role in securing a $5 million dollar ransom for the ship’s release.

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By goth Mohamed

osman5 says:

The chances are he'll convicted based on there're 30 calls made by him during the ordeal. Even though he can't be charged piracy conviction because he never physically got on the yacht but he can be charged concurrence charges, reason being pirates gave his phone number for ransom negotiation to the team that was acting on behalf of the captives.

Yet, he's also involved in high-jacking case on German vessel in 2010.
His lawyer would have a tough time to convince the jury both events were coincidental ..

Osman Qaal

3:57 pm on April 27, 2012

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Omer Hussein Dualeh says:

He is accomplice and should be treated this way. Piracy is more sophisticated than what we think. If they [the Interpol and West] check carefully, they might find Mr. Farooleh phone number, because his so-called government is involved in a big way. I have seen many video recorded from the pirates by renowned investigative journalists, and the pirates admit that his [Faroole] government is heavily involve this menace and take their share. These facilitators are based many places and to name some, they are Dubai and Nairobi.

We must not ignore the Puntlanders expertise in dealing with international criminals syndicates, who might share the cake to defend them behind the curtains, because the lucrative business was going for a long time, and I don't this the international community is so stupid not to know more than what we know. Somaliland must ask the world gunship helicopters to fight against this in it's waters, otherwise, sharing the fight will not give us anything. See what they did to our ship and how they desimated everying that was on board that vessel.

8:10 am on April 28, 2012

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osman5 says:

Puntland government is epicenter of piracy. The world knows about it so do we. Piracy business and the people involved will be caught and brought to justice one at a time .
Getting back to the story above, as I predicted, the jury has reached a guilty verdict on some of the accounts which can carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The sentencing will take place in Aug,2012.

Osman Qaal

8:37 am on April 28, 2012

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Guun says:

It's widely known that the Puntlanders have been heavily involving on piracy and human trafficking business for the last five years or longer with direct or indirect engagement of their leaders, but the question is, how did the American manage to seize that man from Somalia? I understand the man was in Somalia by the time he was caught. The report didn't tell us how.

3:05 pm on April 28, 2012

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