{"id":312302,"date":"2011-03-15T22:19:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T22:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/15\/pirates-in-court-over-us-deaths\/"},"modified":"2011-03-15T22:19:07","modified_gmt":"2011-03-15T22:19:07","slug":"pirates-in-court-over-us-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/15\/pirates-in-court-over-us-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Pirates’ in court over US deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n \t\t
\n 15 March 2011<\/span>
\nLast updated at <\/span>18:19 ET<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Thirteen Somalis and a Yemeni have pleaded not guilty to charges over the hijacking of a yacht that ended with the deaths of four US sailors.<\/p>\n

The men are charged in US federal court with piracy, kidnapping and weapons charges.<\/p>\n

The couple who owned the boat and two guests were shot to death after pirates took them hostage off Oman last month.<\/p>\n

The suspected pirates were captured by US naval forces sent to the scene of the hijacking.<\/p>\n

‘I know nothing’<\/span><\/p>\n

If convicted by the court in Norfolk, in the US state of Virginia, the men face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.<\/p>\n

“There’s nothing I know about these charges,” defendant Mohamud Salad Ali said through an interpreter on Tuesday. “I do not admit that I was a pirate.”<\/p>\n

Last month, Scott and Jean Adam, owners of the S\/V Quest, and their passengers Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay, were killed after pirates hijacked the vessel.<\/p>\n

They were the first US citizens killed in a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in recent years.<\/p>\n

US naval forces were tracking their captured yacht and engaged in negotiations with one pirate aboard a US Navy vessel when the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade, according to the military.<\/p>\n

‘Killed without provocation’<\/span><\/p>\n

Then gunfire was heard on board the yacht. Special forces boarded the yacht and found the Americans had been shot, the military says.<\/p>\n

At least three of the accused pirates killed the four without provocation, and the defendants on the Quest had a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, three rounds and several small arms, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

According to the Adams’ website<\/a>, the middle-aged couple set sail in 2002 on the 58-foot vessel, and in 2004 they embarked on a planned eight- to 10-year voyage around the world.<\/p>\n

Friends described the couple as adventure-seekers who were also driven by their Christian faith, at times distributing Bibles at ports of call.<\/p>\n

A tentative trial date has been set for 17 May.<\/p>\n

In the past year, at least six accused Somali pirates have been convicted in US courts.<\/p>\n

On Monday, a judge in Norfolk handed down life sentences to five Somali men who had been found guilty of piracy in the attempted hijacking of a US naval vessel last year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Originally posted here:
\n‘Pirates’ in court over US deaths<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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