U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal from Somali Pirates
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Somali pirates who were the first people convicted on federal piracy charges in nearly 200 years, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Court officials made no comment in its refusal to go into the convictions and life sentences.
The five defendants were prosecuted in a series of government trials targeted at slowing the spread of piracy off Africa. It was the first piracy conviction in a U.S. courtroom since 1819.
In this instance, the USS Nicholas was mistaken for a merchant ship because the U.S. Navy used a lighting display to disguise the warship and attract pirates. Three pirates in a skiff fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at the vessel, as well as barraging it with AK-47 fire in the Indian Ocean. Fortunately, no sailors were injured in the attack.
Defense lawyers for the Somalis claimed that the men were innocent fishermen who had been kidnapped by pirates and forced to fire their weapons at the Virginia-based USS Nicholas. The government counteracted those allegations by stating that the Somalis had confessed to attacking the naval ship.
The court also rejected a separate appeal from another group of Somalis who have yet to be tried on piracy charges. In that case, a judge had dismissed charges against five alleged pirates in an attack on the USS Ashland, ruling since the men had not seized or robbed the ship, their actions did not rise to the definition of piracy.
However, a federal appeals court later ruled that an armed attack on a U.S. vessel constituted piracy. That ruling sent the case back to U.S. District Court for trial.
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