Accused Somali pirates on trial in France for 2009 hijacking

Accused Somali pirates on trial in France for 2009 hijacking

Monday, October 14, 2013   Peter Snyder at 11:07 AM ET

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/10/accused-somali-pirates-on-trial-in-france-for-2009-hijacking.php

[JURIST] Three Somali pirates accused of hijacking a private yacht off the coast of Somalia in 2009 went on trial in France Monday. The situation garnered heavy media coverage after French special services attempted to rescue [Telegraph report] the three french nationals being held captive on the sailboat on April 10, 2009, four days after they were taken hostage. The operation led to the death of the boat's captain, Florent Lemacon, and the freeing of his wife and son. The three pirates now between the ages of 27 and 31 have been held in French custody [AFP report] since the incident four years ago.

A number of countries around the world have taken actions in the attempt to solve the problem of maritime piracy [JURIST news archive]. In August a jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] convicted [JURIST report] three Somali men of hijacking a boat and killing four Americans in 2011 off the coast of Somalia. In February the Abu Dhabi Federal Appeal Court upheld the sentences [JURIST report] of 10 Somali pirates convicted of highjacking a UAE-owned bulk-carrier ship in April 2011. In October 2012 the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg [official website, in German] issued sentences [JURIST report] for 10 Somalis who were involved in the hijacking the German freighter MS Taipan off the coast of Somalia two years ago.

Belgium authorities arrest accused Somali pirate leader

Belgium authorities arrest accused Somali pirate leader

Monday, October 14, 2013   Addison Morris at 2:01 PM ET

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/10/belgium-authorities-arrest-accused-somali-pirate-leader.php

[JURIST] Belgian authorities announced on Monday that suspected Somali pirate leader Mohammed Abdi Hassan was detained by authorities at the Brussels Airport [corporate website] on Saturday. Thought to be responsible for numerous vessel hijackings, Belgian prosecutors have been seeking Abdi Hassan, also known as "Big Mouth," for some time. However, as Abdi Hassan rarely traveled, authorities were unable to arrest him, and felt that an international arrest warrant would produce little result. In order to lure the pirate leader out of Somalia, authorities posed undercover to request his services as an expert adviser for a fake piracy documentary, which was to be modeled after his own experiences. Abdi Hassan flew into Brussels in order to sign film contracts, but was instead arrested as soon as the plane touched down. His traveling companion, accomplice Mohamed Aden Tiiceey, was also arrested. Both Abdi Hassan and Tiiceey face kidnapping and hijacking charges stemming from 2009, when they allegedly held a Belgian dredging ship captive [BBC report] for more than 70 days, only releasing the crew after receiving a large ransom.

Various tribunals have attempted to prosecute Somali pirates [JURIST news archive]. A jury for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] recommended [JURIST report] in August that three Somali pirates convicted [JURIST report] of murdering four Americans receive life in prison sentences. In February the Abu Dhabi Federal Appeals Court upheld [JURIST report] the sentences of 10 Somali pirates convicted of highjacking a UAE-owned bulk-carrier ship. Last October the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg issued sentences [JURIST report] for 10 Somalis who were involved in the hijacking the German freighter MS Taipan off the coast of Somalia. Last October an appeals court in Kenya ruled [JURIST report] that Kenyan courts have jurisdiction to try international piracy suspects.

African states adopt regional anti-piracy agreement

African states adopt regional anti-piracy agreement

Thursday, June 27, 2013    G. Redd at 3:54 PM ET 

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] on Thursday welcomed [statement] a regional agreement announced Wednesday to deter piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. The Summit of the Gulf of Guinea Heads of State and Government [All Africa report] closed with the adoption of the International Maritime Organization [official website] Code of Conduct concerning the Prevention and Repression of Piracy, Armed Robbery against Ships, and Illegal Maritime Activities in West and Central Africa [text, PDF]. This development is seen as especially significant because it is a regional solution that is not limited to one or two countries. The summit was attended by the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) [official websites] and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC). The Secretary-General has encouraged all member nations to ratify the agreement individually in order to unify local and regional efforts.

This is a major development in the ongoing struggle to unify anti-piracy task forces across deeply divided regions. The UN Security Council [official website] last November condemned [statement; press release] piracy and acts of armed robbery against vessels off the coast of Somalia. It urged the international community to develop a comprehensive response [JURIST report] to discourage these acts. This summit is one of the first to do so, in response to resolution 2077 [text]. The resolution called on member states to enact domestic legislation that criminalizes piracy and to assist Somalia in prosecuting pirates. Also last November UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson stressed the need to address the causes of maritime piracy [JURIST report] with a "multi-dimensional approach". Addressing the UN Security Council, Eliasson noted three areas of concern that warrant immediate action: 1) better coordination, information-sharing and trust-building among countries and agencies involved in counter-piracy operations; 2) stronger capacity to prosecute piracy cases and imprison those convicted in accordance with international human rights standards; and 3) the establishment of a framework governing the use of privately contracted armed security personnel on board vessels. The month previous the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg issued sentences [JURIST report] for 10 Somalis who were involved in the hijacking the German freighter MS Taipan off the coast of Somalia two years ago.

2 tacks to combat piracy

Year's end finds 2 countries setting different courses to combat the recent spate of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia.

In the United States, just before Thanksgiving, a federal jury in Virginia returned convictions for piracy and other offenses against 4 Somali defendants. (credit for detail from 2010 courtroom sketch by Alba Bragoli/AP) The verdict came one month after the judge in the case,United States v. Hasan, sustained a charge brought under 18 U.S.C. § 1651. The statute provides, in language dating to 1819:

Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.

Yet in the same courthouse a few months earlier, a different federal judge, in the case of United States v. Said, had dismissed a piracy chargebrought against 6 other Somali men. Tripping the latter judge up was Congress' reference in § 1651 to "the law of nations."

The opposite rulings reflect uncertainties about whether an old legal framework presents the proper way to proceed against 21st C. pirates. It's a puzzle addressed in this discussion by our OJ colleagues, and in manyIntLawGrrls posts available here.

In the United States, the discrepancy next awaits consideration by the Virginia-based Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.

France, meanwhile, has taken another tack.

France also has been involved in policing piracy in the Gulf of Aden.(credit for March 2010 of French naval vessel, with "Somali pirate skiffs" in foreground) France also has found that its old laws fell short -- and so it's opted for a legislative fix.

Shortly before Christmas, the Sénatvoted unanimously in favor of the Loi de lutte contre la piraterie et d'exercice des pouvoirs de police de l'Etat en mer -- a bill to ease the pursuit and punishment of pirates that the legislature's lower house already had approved.

Key components:

► An 1825 French antipiracy law having been abrogated in 2007, the newly adopted law reintroduces into the penal code the crime of piracy -- a crime may be pursued via universal jurisdiction. The new law applies to acts of piracy "within the meaning of" the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, "committed ... on the high seas," "in maritime spaces outside any state's jurisdiction," and "when international law permits, in a state's territorial waters." That Convention is an artifact of the law of nations to which France has been a state party since 1996, but to which, as posted, the United States does not belong.

► The new statute further establishes a legal regime for detaining suspects onboard French naval vessels while they are being transported to judicial authorities. These Mesures prises à l'encontre des personnes à bord des navires respond to a March 2010 judgment, Affaire Medvedyev et Autres c. France, in which the European Court of Human Rights held that France had violated the guarantee of liberty and security of person in Article 5 of Europe's human rights convention by its high-seas detention in 2002 of members of a ship's crew who were suspected of trafficking in drugs.

(Deep thanks for invaluable assistance with this post to University of California-Davis LL.M. student Johann Morri, on leave this year from his post as a French administrative law judge.)

UN Security Council Extends Mandate to Fight Pirates

The United Nations Security Council this week renewed for another 12 months the authorizations granted to States and regional organizations cooperating with Somalia’s transitional government to fight piracy off the country’s coast.

The resolution authorizes States and regional organizations to enter Somalia’s territorial waters and use “all necessary means” –- such as deploying naval vessels and military aircraft, as well as seizing and disposing of boats, vessels, arms and related equipment used for piracy. In the resolution adopted this week, the 15-member Security Council reiterated its condemnation of all acts of piracy and armed robbery against vessels in the waters off the Somali coast.

According to figures by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), over 438 seafarers and passengers and 20 ships are held by pirates as of 4 November – an increase of almost 100 kidnapped victims in less than a month.

(Adapted from a UN Press Release)