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Amsterdam, May 29, 2010 – Five Somali men have protested that they were
shark fisherman not pirates despite being intercepted off Somalia's
coast after attacking a Dutch vessel with rocket launchers and assault
rifles.
Europe's first modern trial for the 17th century crime of "sea robbery"
has opened in Rotterdam amid protestations of innocence from the
accused.
The men, facing jail terms of nine to 12 years, are accused of attacking
and attempting to hijack the Samanyolu, a Dutch Antilles-flagged ship,
while it was sailing in the Gulf of Aden in January 2009.
The ship's Turkish crew beat off the attack by firing signal flares at
the Somali boat, destroying it. Danish marines then rescued and arrested
the Somalis before handing them over to Dutch authorities.
Farah Ahmed Yusuf, 25, accused the cargo ship of attacking the Somalis
after engine failure had forced them to abandon their shark fishing
expedition and seek help.
"The intention was to fish," he said.
"As we came closer, we put our hands in the air. While we had our hands
in the air, they shot at us. They attacked us."
Another accused man, Sayid Ali Garaar, 39, said: "We were not pirates,
we were fishermen. There were no weapons."
The Samanyulo's crew, expected to give evidence later in the week, have
accused the suspected pirates of shooting at their vessel with automatic
weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
The trial is expected to last five days and judgment is to be handed
down on June 16. According to the London-based International Maritime
Bureau, which monitors maritime crime, pirates attempted 215 attacks on
merchant ships off the Somali coast in 2009.
Source: The Telegraph, Wednsday, May 26, 2010
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