2 Other Somalis Sentenced in Piracy Case

Posted October 4th, 2011 at 8:35 pm (UTC-5)
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A U.S. federal court has sentenced two another Somalis to life in prison for acts of piracy in connection with the hijacking of a yacht which resulted in the deaths of four U.S. citizens.

Authorities in Norfolk, Virginia say 35-year-old Mohamud Salad Ali and 22-year-old Ahmed Sala Ali Burale were sentenced Tuesday. Ali had previously pled guilty to the piracy charge and to a charge of hostage-taking resulting in death. Burale had pled guilty to piracy under the law of nations.

The defendants were the fifth and sixth men to have entered guilty pleas in the case.

Monday, Muhidin Salad Omar and Mahdi Jama Mohamed, received life sentences for hijacking the S/V Quest.

The first life sentences in the case were handed down to Ali Abdi Mohamed and Burhan Abdirahman Yusuf in August.

Nineteen pirates hijacked the yacht in the waters off East Africa in February. The four Americans on board were held hostage for several days before being shot dead.

Somali pirates have made hundreds of millions of dollar hijacking ships for ransom.