The men said that they are fishermen, not pirates

MOMBASA , Kenya October 26, 2006 -- Ten Somali pirates face the death penalty after being convicted of hijacking an Indian-based ship by a Kenyan court on Thursday.

The pirates, who were captured by the U.S. Navy after seizing the vessel, the Safina Al Bisaarat, will be sentenced next Wednesday, said Magistrate Beatrice Jaden.

"I have no doubt that the suspects committed the offense of piracy," she said.

None of the men, who insisted during their trial that they were stranded fishermen, showed any emotion as they were found guilty at the main courthouse in the Kenyan seaport of Mombassa.

"The only sentence that befits these suspects is death," prosecutor Vincent Monda told the magistrate after her verdict. "This offense is capital and the punishment should be severe."

Hassan Abdi, the defense lawyer, said Kenya had no jurisdiction over the case and would be challenging the verdict at the country's high court in the capital, Nairobi.

U.S. sailors, who are part of an anti-terrorism task force based in Djibouti, detained the pirates on January 22 in an operation involving U.S. military helicopters and a warship that fired several warning shots. They were handed over to Kenyan authorities on January 29.

The U.S. Navy had been responding to a hijacking report from the International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur. They began tracking the Safina and captive crew members displayed signs indicating a radio frequency they would use to communicate.

Another sign had the word "help" written on it.

The ship's Indian captain told the U.S. sailors that his vessel had been hijacked two days after leaving the Somali port of Kismayo en route to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The pirates were armed with pistols, assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades.

Capt. Akbar Ali Suleiman told the trial, which began in February, that they had tried to outrun two speedboats used by the pirates. He said once the pirates boarded the vessel they beat up sailors and demanded money. They were held captive for six days before being rescued.

U.S. sailors who searched the ship found an AK-47 assault rifle but the pirates threw most of their weapons into the sea when they spotted a U.S. Navy ship.

The American troops had also planned to search a skiff the vessel was towing, but called it off when they discovered cylindrical objects they believed were explosives.

Days earlier the pirates tried to seize the MV Delta Ranger, a bulk carrier sailing under the flag of the Bahamas, 200 miles [320 kilometers] off the eastern coast of Somalia.

Piracy is rampant off the coast of Somalia, which has no effective government of its own to respond. The Horn of African nation has been in chaos since opposition leaders ousted a dictatorship in 1991 and then turned on each other.

Source: The Associated Press

Somali nationals sit in the dock in a court in Kenya's coastal city of Mombassa, 480 km (298 miles) southeast of Nairobi October 26, 2006. Ten Somalis detained by the United States Navy off the coast of Somalia were found guilty of piracy by a Kenyan court on Thursday. REUTERS/Joseph Okanga ( KENYA)