Almost two years after the celebrated hijack of US –flag ship Maersk Alabama, a federal judge in New York, USA last week sentenced Somali pirate Abduwali Muse to 33 years and nine months in prison for hijacking a container ship in the Indian Ocean, taking the captain hostage, and for his role in two earlier ship hijackings. Abduwali Abdiqadir Muse was sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison in an emotional hearing that included testimony from a survivor of the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, an American-flagged container ship, off the coast of Somalia. Muse’s lawyers had sought the minimum, more lenient sentence of 27 years. But U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, saying Muse and his accomplices appeared to "relish their most depraved acts of physical and psychological violence," said a longer sentence was needed to deter other pirates. Following takeovers of two other ships, Muse and three accomplices climbed aboard the Maersk Alabama on April 8, 2009. Muse, whom prosecutors said was the leader, allegedly fired an AK-47 assault rifle at the captain, Richard Phillips, and ordered him to stop the ship. Days later, Muse was captured, and U.S. Navy snipers shot and killed his three accomplices, rescuing Phillips. Colin Wright, who had been third officer on the ship and spoke at the hearing, later told reporters that the sentence was not too harsh. "Seems like a very short time for the pain and trauma that he and his companions have caused," said Wright. "He’s also responsible for his three companions being killed. And a sentence of 33, nearly 34 years, seems like a fairly short one for that." “Today’s sentence makes it clear that piracy on the high seas is a crime against the international community that will not be tolerated,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara also said in a statement. Muse had pleaded guilty in May to six counts related to hijacking maritime vessels, kidnapping and hostage-taking. Prior to his sentencing, Muse told the court through a translator that he was "very sorry," and asked forgiveness from those he had harmed. Muse’s attorneys contended that extreme poverty led him to piracy, and that he was still in his mid-teens. However, the court found that Muse was over 18 at the time of the hijackings. Accomplices Slain Armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, Muse boarded the Maersk Alabama, fired at Phillips and forced him to stop the ship, demanding $30,000, prosecutors said. The pirates agreed to leave after Muse was captured by members of the crew, then took Phillips hostage when he attempted to show them how to use a motorized lifeboat and held him in the vessel for four days. Muse was taken into custody after snipers from the USS Bainbridge, a U.S. Navy missile destroyer, shot and killed his three accomplices, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation brought Muse to New York. His attorneys, Fiona Doherty and Philip Weinstein, argued that their client grew up in poverty in Somalia, sometimes hunting through garbage for food, and worked in fishing communities in the coastal area known as Puntland, where pirate gangs have their roots, they said. “There’s no doubt that the conditions in Somalia that he experienced up until the time he was arrested will continue to have a powerful effect on him,” Doherty said. His attorneys have argued that Muse was just 16 at the time of the hijacking, although a U.S. magistrate judge has rejected that claim and prosecutors have said that he told one of his hostages he was 24. ‘Youthful Appearance’ “The defendant has used his youthful appearance as a tool for leniency” since his arrest, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McGuire said during today’s hearing. Before he was sentenced, Muse, speaking through a translator, said he was “very sorry” and asked for forgiveness from those he harmed and the U.S. government, saying he was “deluded” by people who were smarter and more powerful. “I got my hands into something that was more powerful than me,” said Muse, who tried to commit suicide several times since his arrest, according to his defense attorneys. Colin Wright, 44, of Galveston, Texas, who was the third officer on the Maersk Alabama that day, testified during today’s hearing that the incident permanently changed him and asked the judge to sentence Muse to the maximum penalty possible. “It was a very, very scary experience,” said Wright, who detailed being shot at during the hijacking and listening to bullets ring off the bulkhead next to him. ‘Only Justice’ Preska took off her glasses and appeared to get emotional while reading letters from victims including Phillips, who said he wrote on behalf of all merchant mariners asking “not for revenge or brutality, only justice.” Piracy “affects us in our daily lives and it is not a Disneyland-esque problem,” Phillips wrote. “These are not Johnny Depps.” The judge said that a longer sentence was necessary to deter piracy. “General deterrence of this type of conduct is the most important sentencing factor,” Preska said. The Maersk Alabama is owned by Maersk Line Ltd., a Norfolk, Virginia-based unit of Copenhagen-based A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S. The case is U.S. v. Muse, 09-cr-00512, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). *voanews.com, allheadlinenews.com
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