2 Somali pirates appeal 10-year jail sentence

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  • -11

    Iwandabaka

    Rather than imprison these illiterate third world men, educate them for 10 years then return them to Somalia so they can educate other such unfortunates.

  • 5

    commanteer

    They think that sending them back to Somalia in 10 years is cruel and unusual punishment, and are demanding at least 20 years in Japan.

  • 2

    wtfjapan

    ok if you behave yourselves in prison well give you a 5 day reduction off your sentence, thats moe than fair no!?

  • 1

    JoeBigs

    Yeah retry them, but this time go for the death penalty

  • 1

    YuriOtani

    They should be hanged, educating them will all them to be better pirates.

  • 1

    YuriOtani

    allow

  • 4

    tokyo-star

    If they are illiterate, how'd they figure out the appeals process?

  • 3

    Fendy

    No mercy should be given to them - they are smart enough to know that they need to be held accountable for their actions and intentions. we have seen too much killing of innocent people recently all around the world due to terrorist's actions.

  • 1

    Kimokekahuna Hawaii

    Do you want your taxes used to house, care for, feed, cloth... enemies of the state? Hang them and send a clear message... they were caught in the act.. get the names of who they work for and drone strike them off the face of the Earth.. or maybe cheaper to send in a assassin and take care of business effectively and efficiently. This is where you send in Die Hard or Swartzenegger or Stallone who can make a movie about these scum of the Earth.. worthless less than humans who would kill you and your children without a second thought...

  • -4

    Steve Christian

    "If they are illiterate, how'd they figure out the appeals process?"

    Who said they did. This is Japan. I am sure they are at the mercy of their lawyers, who don't speak their language and I am sure they have no translators or they have the worst available.

    And everyone, these are pirates, not murderers. Its no use pretending they should have found decent work at 7-11 or a gas station. This is Somalia we are talking about. They never asked to be born in that hell hole.

  • 3

    Vast Right-Wing Conspirator

    "they never asked to be born in that hell hole"

    Neither did the vast majority of Somalis, who are decent and hardworking people. The solution to poverty isn't theft or kidnapping or extortion. Or threatening to murder prisoners. Or murdering prisoners, as happens all too frequently.

  • 2

    Elbuda Mexicano

    Only an IDIOT would even assume these Somalis DO NOT HAVE translators, if you follow this news from a few weeks back, THEY DO have translators etc..Japan is not that kind of country, and just imagine a Japanese lawyer, judge trying to figure out what the heck these Somalis are trying to say in Swahili or what ever language they may speak, the official translators also mentioned these Somalis can not read nor write the official language of Somalia, not much of a surprise for any Third World Country and my guess poor Somalia is more like a 4th or 5th world country.

  • 4

    25psot

    The pirates should think of jail like a Health Resort where they can have chance to learn human behavior.

  • 1

    YuriOtani

    Having sympathy for them is misplaced. They are human vermin and would not think a moment about killing to achieve their goals. This woe to me gets nowhere with me. Hang enough of them and they will think twice before doing it.

  • -2

    darknuts

    @Yuri Hanging for piracy? Even Singapore doesn't do that. This isn't the 14th century.

  • -2

    Steve Christian

    Neither did the vast majority of Somalis, who are decent and hardworking people.

    Maybe they used to be. Now they have a coast full of toxic waste thanks to the countries of the ships these former fisherman now seek to pirate.

    I guess instead of turning to piracy they should have picked themselves up by the bootstraps out of their shacks and filed a complaint with the ICJ. Then during the years the ICJ takes to make a decision eat sand. Then pound sand when its finally clear the ICJ will do nothing.

  • 1

    YuriOtani

    They hang them for drugs which is not nearly as bad. Piracy consists of hijack, kidnapping, murder, ransom, etc. Rewarding they with payout encourages more of the same. A double hanging would send a signal. If that is not enough clean out their nests. Go to their home port, catch as many pirates as possible and sink or burn every ship in port. Harsh but soon the pirates will not be welcome in any port. Looking at the as poor disadvantaged people is dangerous. It is an excuse and no more.

  • 0

    Steve Christian

    Looking at the as poor disadvantaged people is dangerous. It is an excuse and no more.

    I am sorry, but European countries making your food and livelihood toxic is not just an excuse.

    But yeah, don't teach a man how to fish. Instead fish illegally there, then poison all the fish left in his vicinity and burn his fishing vessels indiscriminately. Hang some people too. There could not possibly be any repercussions to such actions (said right on the heels of the Christopher Dorner case).

    Maybe if we did look at them as poor and disadvantaged, we could provide them with occupations to substitute the fishing industry European countries destroyed, a major reason why they turned to piracy to literally survive.

    And you know, these pirates have been consistent with giving people the choice of their money or their life. Pay the ransoms and everybody lives. Start hanging them and that could change real fast.

    At least read the first two paragraphs of this. This is very much a case of the chickens coming home to roost. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PiracyinSomalia

  • 1

    BigdaddyJ

    Let them do their time. No mercy. Japan is known for its low crime rate. Teach these thugs a lesson.

  • -3

    Fugacis

    judge trying to figure out what the heck these Somalis are trying to say in Swahili or what ever language they may speak, the official translators also mentioned these Somalis can not read nor write the official language of Somalia

    Well, gee, you could bother to look it up, you ignorant fool! The answer is Somali, with Arabic as the other official language, popularly spoken as a second language in Somalia. It would have taken you three seconds to google that. Or are Africans not worth your effort to actually understand anything about them?

  • -2

    Fugacis

    I have to agree with Steve Christian here. It's always easy to be moralistic when you're sitting in the first world with job opportunities and food aplenty, and tell the 'ignorant savages' that they should work hard and be respectable as you have. Smacks of first world privilege.

    As it is, Somalia has been left in a horrific and pitiable state by waves of colonial oppression, violence and civil war, not to mention environmental degradation of its coastal waters which has left these former fishermen without livelihoods. I've said it enough times before, but criminals aren't born; they are made. Maybe when there is a stable domestic environment and clean coastal waters, there won't be so many pirates who take to the seas raiding the vessels of rich countries in order to make a living.

    Until then, execute away. You'll find that there are a lot of these pirates out there, and many more who will take their place as long as that gulf is popular with sea traffic. Plenty will risk it and the threat of execution will be no deterrent; they face the threat of death by violence or by starvation every day. For every one pirate executed, dozens more will die in maritime accidents, in civil violence, or from disease or malnutrition.

    Killing people won't help. Nor will proclaiming that the poor and desperate are only poor and desperate because they don't have the superior moral qualities that you apparently possess.

  • 1

    bajhista65

    Illiterate or not, minor or not, NO MERCY.... punish them big time. These people are murderers.

  • 1

    alimel1969

    Regardless of their educatin or their circumstance they knew the risk and that it was wrong. They deserve the same punishment as anyone else who commits the same crime. No more, no less.

  • 3

    commanteer

    @Christian. From the source you cited: "Several European "firms" — really front companies created by the Italian mafia — contracted with local Somali warlords to ship hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic industrial waste from Europe to Somalia."

    So local Somalis conspired with the mafia to dump waste off their own shores. That's quite different from blaming it on Europeans in general. And of course these things happen when wars create chaos. The Scottish border had a long history of families forced into banditry because they were in the middle of a war zone.

    Still, the fact remains that pirates murder innocent people for financial gain. They know what they're doing, and they know the risks. Sympathy should be given to their victims, not to them.

  • 2

    WA4TKG

    As mentioned in a different article ( see WWII Unexploded Ordinance ) all of these clowns` boats / ships should be SHELLED, in the WATER, and LEAVE them...that will save EVERYONE a LOT of trouble. Live as a Pirate, DIE as a Pirate.

  • 1

    Elbuda Mexicano

    Cool! Live by the sword like a pirate and die by the sword like a pirate, great post by Wa4tkg!

  • 0

    Elbuda Mexicano

    Yuri san also has a point, even Singapore gives the death penalty for less crimes, why should criminals who STEAL entire ships, kill, rape, ransom you name it, these pirates do it, not get the death penalty here in Japan, etc...

  • -1

    cleo

    criminals who STEAL entire ships, kill, rape, ransom you name it, these pirates do it

    They were convicted of attempting to hijack a ship, which is bad enough; where does it say these two raped or killed anyone?

  • -1

    Beer_my_true_love

    They're are both pirate scum caught in the act, hang them both. Piracy is too rife off Africa's coast. These pirates care little for their victims maybe if a few were dangling they'd think twice. These two are scum no mercy.

  • 1

    Cortes Elijah

    Hang them. They are a waste of tax. This will send a clear warning to them, they will think twice before coming to Japan again.

  • 1

    Fadamor

    And everyone, these are pirates, not murderers. Its no use pretending they should have found decent work at 7-11 or a gas station. This is Somalia we are talking about. They never asked to be born in that hell hole.

    Newsflash: Somali pirates ARE murderers. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/08/3-suspected-somali-pirates-charged-with-murder/

    These two are just lucky the crew retreated to a "safe room" as the pirates were boarding and therefore none of the crew was hurt, or that 10 year sentence would have changed into a life sentence or death penalty. Piracy resulting in murder is not condoned by any nation (except Somalia, I guess.) Whether or not they "asked to be born in that hellhole" is irrelevant. They had to know piracy is illegal. They tried to board a ship and take it over by force using submachine guns. They could be the dumbest two people on the planet and they still had to know that was wrong.

    Their claim that their trial was invalid because the ship wasn't in Japanese waters is without merit because the ship wasn't in ANY country's waters. If that were a valid reason for dismissal, then piracy on the high seas could never be prosecuted.

    Their claim that the trial was invalid because the ship wasn't registered in Japan is also without merit. The tanker may have been registered in the Bahamas and flagged as such, but the ship was operated by a Japanese corporation. Thus, they fell under Japan's relatively new anti-piracy law. 3 of the 4 pirates were tried, with the fourth having been determined to be a minor.

  • 0

    Elbuda Mexicano

    For all of us too ignorant and foolish to not exactly know the languages used by these Somali pirates, ***The Somali language is the official language of Somalia and the mother tongue of the Somali people, the nation's most populous ethnic group.[1][2] It is a member of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and its nearest relatives are the Afar and Saho languages.[3] Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages,[4] with academic studies of it dating from before 1900.

    The exact number of speakers of Somali is unknown. One source estimates that there are 7.78 million speakers of Somali in Somalia itself and 12.65 million speakers globally.[5]

    The Somali language is spoken by ethnic Somalis in Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Yemen and Kenya, and in the Somali diaspora. It is also spoken as an adoptive language by a few ethnic minority groups in these regions.***

    Anyway, I do hope we all never forget what language/s our pirates are yelling at us before they take over our ships, planes etc...

  • 0

    Elbuda Mexicano

    Cleo, maybe these 2 pirates are only being arrested for "just trying to hijack" a big old ship, but if you think these pirates do not kill, rape, torture etc..time to talk to people who have actually been hijacked, one of my best friends escaping from VIETNAM, had their little boats hijacked by THAI pirates, and the story is not pretty. So Somali pirates most likely not too different from those in Thailand etc...you know, just a gut feeling.

  • -2

    Fugacis

    They're are both pirate scum caught in the act, hang them both. Piracy is too rife off Africa's coast. These pirates care little for their victims maybe if a few were dangling they'd think twice. These two are scum no mercy.

    Sure. Except that execution never works as a deterrent, and in fact is more likely to escalate violence (pirates will feel pushed into a corner). Seriously, what do you think a Somali fisherman unable to make a living is going to factor in first? The threat of imminent starvation for himself or his family, or that a first world nation MIGHT execute him after a drawn out trial? Again, these people live with the shadow of death looming over them every day. Execution really isn't that scary, except perhaps to make them fight to the death rather than be captured, costing more lives.

    Not to mention that execution is utterly barbaric and despicable in any case, and makes us no better than the murderers we so piously declare the pirates to be.

  • -2

    Fugacis

    The upshot being that rather than clutching our pearls and wishing death upon people, we should probably consider addressing the political and economic circumstances that drive so many Somalis to piracy in the first place.

  • 0

    cleo

    if you think these pirates do not kill, rape, torture etc..time to talk to people who have actually been hijacked, one of my best friends escaping from VIETNAM, had their little boats hijacked by THAI pirates

    So these two Somali pirates, who tried to hijack a ship, should be sentenced to death not because of what they're accused of, but because some other pirates in another part of the world did something bad to your friend?? I hope you never get in trouble with the law, Elbuda-san. Some Mexicans have done some pretty terrible stuff, drug dealing, murder, rape, you name it, and you are saying you need to take the rap for it all on top of your parking ticket (I'm sure you wouldn't do anything worse...would you?:-)) 'cos these Mexicans deserve all they get.....

  • 0

    mdepaiva

    They are appealing their sentence? I say, if you don't want to do the time, then don't do the crime.

  • 1

    Fadamor

    Seriously, what do you think a Somali fisherman unable to make a living is going to factor in first? The threat of imminent starvation for himself or his family, or that a first world nation MIGHT execute him after a drawn out trial?

    Ahh! The "starving fisherman" ploy! Haven't heard that one in a while. I suppose a fisherman that's "starving" isn't a very good fisherman, is he? You'd think most fisherman would make sure the family was taken care of before they sell the remainder of their catch on the market - ESPECIALLY if they "live with the shadow of death looming over them every day". (Oh my! How melodramatic!")

  • 0

    Fadamor

    So these two Somali pirates, who tried to hijack a ship, should be sentenced to death not because of what they're accused of, but because some other pirates in another part of the world did something bad to your friend??

    I think it's more that the tone of some of the comments seem to imply that pirating a ship isn't connected to murders in any way. Make no mistake, the only reason a pirate is even allowed to board a ship is the THREAT that someone on the crew will be murdered. That guy aiming the RPG at the ship's bridge is not asking to come aboard, he's demanding it or someone's going to die. As I said before, the only reason these pirates got off as light as they did was because the crew locked themselves in a "safe room" and therefore couldn't be attacked directly. Four pirates (one of them a minor) cannot operate a tanker on their own. They had assumed they could get the crew to operate the ship under armed supervision. The presence of the "safe room" and the effective use of it by the crew rendered the piracy attempt a failure from the moment the pirates boarded the ship. There was essentially a siege situation on the ship, but the besieged crew had an ace up their sleeve: the safe room contained a radio allowing the crew to send out a mayday to naval vessels in the area. The tanker was quickly intercepted by a U.S. vessel and a Turkish vessel and the pirates quickly surrendered without a single round of ammunition expended by either side. THAT'S why they only got 10 years.

  • 0

    bajhista65

    These Somali pirates are not what you called uneducated. Because they know it's bad to kill that's why when they were intercepted by a US Vessel , they quickly surrendered afraid of being killed. It doesn't matter what their other fellow pirates have done. They are all the same. Primitive or not, it's been said "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".

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