The pirate in question was a Somalian man (although the defence team claimed he was under eighteen, the court did not buy this). The judge who sentenced the pirate called Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse to 33 years and 9 months in prison explained that she meted out such a harsh sentence for he "appeared to relish...most depraved acts." She gave an example of one such depraved act as holding mock executions. Also allegedly he shouted "bury him in a shallow area of the ocean” at the captain of the hijacked Maersk Alabama ship off the coast of Somali where it is not unlike scenes from the movie Waterworld:
The trial was also used as a showboat to curb the steady ship of 19th-century maritime laws been applied to 21st century piracy. The argument defending such pirates as young Abdiwaii is one of common sense; they have nothing to turn to in such dire economic conditions and such a harsh sentence is been meted out by a hypocritical government who are attempting to police oceans thousands of miles away to protected their own evil multi-corporate businesses from going about their lucrative trade. Somali fishermen who have little means to defend themselves in their small-scale infrastructures have complained about being shot at by foreign fishermen with water-cannons and firearms.
Peter Lehr, a lecturer in terrorism studies says “The first pirate gangs emerged in the '90s to protect against foreign trawlers". These initial motives have conflated into a thirst by these exponentially mycobacteriatic pirates for more treasures. The sanctioning of Abdiwaii’s trial has thrust America and their dealings with foreign affairs into the limelight. Can we expect them to look beyond the acts of violence in the case of Abdiwaii as more than just an isolated case into how they manifested and are in fact a phenomenon directly linked with their own actions and perhaps help these countries rather than throw the old, wrinkled canon against the wall and then turn away?
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