New York, May 19: A Somali man pleaded guilty in New York to seizing a US ship in the Indian Ocean last year, but escaped life behind bars after prosecutors dropped a formal piracy charge.
Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse was captured by the US Navy amid a bloody operation on the high seas last year to free a US mother assailants were holding hostage.
Muse pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Manhattan to seizing a ship by force and kidnapping, but prosecutors said they would no longer pursue him for piracy and other more serious charges.
He faces between 27 years and 33 years and nine months in prison, according to sentencing guidelines, his lawyer Phillip Weinstein said.
Weinstein called the sentence was “reasonable.” Muse, who smiled during his court appearance, was accused of being a ring leader during a raid on the Maersk Alabama, a US ship. The assailants tried to flee in a lifeboat with the ship’s captain, Richard Phillips, but were left stranded without a motor.
A US naval ship, the USS Bainbridge, arrived at the scene and sharpshooters killed three of the pirates on the lifeboat, saving Phillips. Muse was arrested after boarding the Bainbridge in an apparent attempt to negotiate.
Prosecutors dropped charges of piracy and possession of a machine gun. Piracy carries a mandatory life sentence.
—-PTI