Four suspected Somali pirates who were handed over to Kenyan authorities by Netherlands navy officers over the weekend have been arraigned in court.
However, before any charges were read, their lawyer Jared Magolo made an application over the jurisdiction of the court to try the suspects. The lawyer raised legal issues he felt needed to be addressed before the suspects could take their plea.
Four suspected Somali pirates who were handed over to Kenyan authorities by Netherlands navy officers over the weekend have been arraigned in court.
However, before any charges were read, their lawyer Jared Magolo made an application over the jurisdiction of the court to try the suspects. The lawyer raised legal issues he felt needed to be addressed before the suspects could take their plea.
According to Magolo, the two charges facing the suspects,of piracy and hijacking of a ship, are one and the same thing and the court ought to amend the same. "It is similar to when you charge a suspect with murder, and again manslaughter, the two are almost the same, and one needs to bedropped," Magolo said. Chief magistrate Lilian Mutende is expected to give a ruling over the issue later.
In the charge sheet, the suspects were charged that between December 1 and 2 last year, upon the high seas, within the Indian Ocean, jointly with others not before the court, while armed with AK47 rifles and RPG attacked FV Tahiri, and at the time of such attack, used violence against the crew members.
The second charge stated that they hijacked a ship between December 1 and 2 last year, while armed with the weapons.
The four, who were handed over to Kenya police at the Moi International Airport and transferred to the port police station over the weekend, will be detained at the basement cells until the ruling over jurisdiction is made.
A court interpreter translated the proceedings to the suspects, who only speak Kiswahili. The suspects are Hassan Adan, Ali Abdilafitah, Abdi Liban, and Dahir Afra.
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