Family of surviving Somali pirate wants him released...

Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
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By VIRGINIA BYRNE, Associated Press Writer Virginia Byrne, Associated Press Writer ? Tue Apr 21, 3:47 am ET

NEW YORK ? The sole surviving Somali pirate from the hostage-taking of an American ship captain arrived in New York on Monday, smiling for a gaggle of cameras and reporters as federal agents led him into custody to face charges in the attack.

Abduhl Wali-i-Musi (AHB'-dul wahl-ih-MOO'-sih) was handcuffed and had a chain wrapped around his waist. His left hand was heavily bandaged from the wound he suffered during the skirmish on the ship two weeks ago.

The smiling teenager seemed poised as he entered a federal building in a rainstorm, but he didn't say anything in response to reporters' shouted questions about whether he had any comment about the pirate episode.

Wali-i-Musi is the first person to be tried in the United States on piracy charges in more than a century. He was flown from Africa to a New York airport and taken into custody ahead of a court hearing Tuesday.

A law enforcement official familiar with the case said that the teenager was being charged under two obscure federal laws that deal with piracy and hostage-taking. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the charges had not been announced.

The teenager's arrival came on the same day that his mother appealed to President Barack Obama for his release. She says her son was coaxed into piracy by "gangsters with money."

"I appeal to President Obama to pardon my teenager; I request him to release my son or at least allow me to see him and be with him during the trial," Adar Abdirahman Hassan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from her home in Galka'yo town in Somalia.

The age and real name of the young pirate remained unclear. The mother said he is only 16 years old and is named Abdi Wali Abdulqadir Muse. The law enforcement official says he is at least 18, meaning prosecutors will not have to take extra legal steps to put him on trial in a U.S. court.

His worried family asked the Minneapolis-based Somali Justice Advocacy Center to help get him a lawyer, said the organization's executive director, Omar Jamal.

"What we have is a confused teenager, overnight thrown into the highest level of the criminal justice system in the United States out of a country where there's no law at all," Jamal said. Wali-i-Musi speaks no English and may never have attended school, he said.

The suspect was taken aboard a U.S. Navy ship shortly before Navy SEAL snipers killed three of his colleagues who had held Capt. Richard Phillips hostage.

The U.S. officials said the teenager was brought to New York to face trial in part because the FBI office here has a history of handling cases in Africa involving major crimes against Americans, such as the al-Qaida bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998.

Ron Kuby, a New York-based civil rights lawyer, said he has been in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the Somalian.

"I think in this particular case, there's a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas," said Kuby. "This man seemed to come onto the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age."

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I wish we had a section for P&N... oh wait, we do! ;)

Zim Hosein

Off Topic Moderator.
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,234
701
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I heard on the news (yesterday) that the Canadian Navy (didn't know they had one, lol) captured a boat load of pirates, took their weapons and interrogated them...and then...gasp...let them go.

I guess you can do the crime without the time.

CNBC reported that each ship carries a "fund" of cash that they use to pay off pirates. I wonder how much cost that adds to our goods shipped from/to overseas?
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,348
3,426
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Carrying an AK-47 as you hold a crew hostage = me not being sympathetic to the boy or his family
 

KK

Lifer
Jan 2, 2001
15,903
4
81
put him in a body bag and release him. Make it easy on everybody.
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
Originally posted by: Engineer
I heard on the news (yesterday) that the Canadian Navy (didn't know they had one, lol) captured a boat load of pirates, took their weapons and interrogated them...and then...gasp...let them go.

I guess you can do the crime without the time.

CNBC reported that each ship carries a "fund" of cash that they use to pay off pirates. I wonder how much cost that adds to our goods shipped from/to overseas?

Yep. That's been the standard procedure for British Navy for pirates they have captured.

No wonder the pirates have been running wild. Up until the Maersk, it was a high reward/low risk venture.
 

magreen

Golden Member
Dec 27, 2006
1,309
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He would probably eat his mom as soon as look at her. Then find a civil rights lawyer to say he did it because he's uneducated.
 

tboo

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2000
7,627
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Why would he want to go back? He'll be getting 3 square meals a day for the rest of his life. Maybe a little "salad" on the side as well.
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,303
15
81
Originally posted by: magreen
He would probably eat his mom as soon as look at her. Then find a civil rights lawyer to say he did it because he's uneducated.

Yeah, this.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
30,855
12,354
136
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Engineer
I heard on the news (yesterday) that the Canadian Navy (didn't know they had one, lol) captured a boat load of pirates, took their weapons and interrogated them...and then...gasp...let them go.

I guess you can do the crime without the time.

CNBC reported that each ship carries a "fund" of cash that they use to pay off pirates. I wonder how much cost that adds to our goods shipped from/to overseas?

Yep. That's been the standard procedure for British Navy for pirates they have captured.

No wonder the pirates have been running wild. Up until the Maersk, it was a high reward/low risk venture.
it has to do with International Law.

The British and Canadians could be charged and brought to the World Court for violating the Somali's rights to pirate.

I am not kidding either.
 

DrawninwarD

Senior member
Jul 5, 2008
896
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0
Originally posted by: magreen
He would probably eat his mom as soon as look at her. Then find a civil rights lawyer to say he did it because he's uneducated.

WHAT THE FUCK?
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
8
0
Problem with this is as bad as things are in Somali I just act like i am jacking a US boat and get sent to a US jail. Food, health care, better safety, etc...

This might back fire.
 

isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
they should've just executed him on the spot.
why waste the resources to bring back a pirate.
 

Kelvrick

Lifer
Feb 14, 2001
18,438
5
81
Originally posted by: isekii
they should've just executed him on the spot.
why waste the resources to bring back a pirate.

He was turning his life around. His boss said he'd be promoted to the Caribbean on his next review.
 

Flipped Gazelle

Diamond Member
Sep 5, 2004
6,666
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Originally posted by: Kelvrick
Originally posted by: isekii
they should've just executed him on the spot.
why waste the resources to bring back a pirate.

He was turning his life around. His boss said he'd be promoted to the Caribbean on his next review.

Pirates of the Caribbean?
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,967
19
81
Originally posted by: DrawninwarD
Originally posted by: magreen
He would probably eat his mom as soon as look at her. Then find a civil rights lawyer to say he did it because he's uneducated.

WHAT THE FUCK?

folks, please keep your kids off drugs.
 

boomerang

Lifer
Jun 19, 2000
18,890
642
126
Originally posted by: tboo
Why would he want to go back? He'll be getting 3 square meals a day for the rest of his life. Maybe a little "salad" on the side as well.
He could fare far better than that. He'll be touted by the media as a poor child from an impoverished part of the world. He'll be defended by a lawyer paid for by the taxpayers of the U.S. 3 years from now, after the lawyers have sucked every nickel from the coffers, he'll come to trial and after the spin put on by the media, he'll be found not guilty. The spin put on the situation will make it appear that it's all our fault anyway.

He'll be given a home, benefits and a college education courtesy of the taxpayers. Probably a lump some cash settlement too because after all it's our fault. He'll be found dead of an overdose 6 months later and once again, we'll be to blame for that and will pay his relatives to assuage our guilt. Total cost - 18.5 million.
 

randay

Lifer
May 30, 2006
11,019
216
106
Originally posted by: Linflas
Originally posted by: randay
poor guy. hope they let his mom be by his side at least.

:roll:

im sorry, i missed the memo about pirates not having rights or being human beings.

i would like to change my comment to "BURN THE WITCH!"