Two Somali pirates, one of them a naturalized American, were sentenced to thirty years in prison for participating in the hostage-taking of German-American journalist Michael Scott Moore between 2012 and 2014, the court announced on Tuesday, November 12. American.
Abdi Youssef Hassan, a 56-year-old naturalized American, was ‘Major hackers and efforts to extort massive ransom from elderly mother’ of the journalist, states the US Department of Justice in a press release. He also organized the production of videos of Michael Scott Moore to prove that he was alive and participated in negotiations for his release, while he had also been responsible for the police and security forces of a Somali province, it adds.
Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed, 43, was an army officer and used his military experience to lead the pirates’ security forces and supply them with weapons. He, according to the same source, “oversaw Moore’s care” during the early stages of his captivity.
“Hostage taking and terrorism”
The two men were found guilty of, among other things, “Hostage taking and terrorism” in February 2023 by a jury in New York, after three weeks of a trial in which they were present, according to the American press.
According to German officials interviewed at the time of his release, Mr. Moore had worked for several years for the Internet edition of the weekly spiegel before going to Somalia to write a book about piracy.
He was kidnapped in January 2012 by heavily armed pirates on a road in the Galkayo region, then a veritable pirate den that eluded authorities. For more than two years, until his release in September 2014, the journalist was moved from hiding place to hiding place, often chained, guarded by heavily armed kidnappers who threatened him several times, according to a statement from the US justice system.
After his kidnapping, his captors frequently posted photos of him on the Internet. According to the American press, the pirates received a ransom of 1.6 million dollars, raised by their family.
