A US jury today found a Somali man who acted as a negotiator for pirates aboard a hijacked ship not guilty of piracy, but had not yet reached a verdict on two lesser charges.
Ali Mohamed Ali, 51, who would have faced a mandatory life sentence if convicted of piracy, smiled and embraced one of his lawyers after the verdict was announced. He then removed his glasses and dabbed his eyes. A friend in the courtroom sobbed. Ali has been held in a city jail for more than two and a half years.
US District Judge Ellen Huvelle told jurors to continue deliberating on two remaining charges of hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit hostage-taking. Both of those charges carry potential, but not mandatory life sentences, and Ali is unlikely to receive a life sentence even if the jury convicts him on those charges.
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Ali negotiated a ransom for Somali pirates during a 2008 pirate takeover of a Danish merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden. At the time of his 2011 arrest, he was the education minister in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, but he has spent most of his adult life in the United States.
Pirates seized the M/V CEC Future in November 2008, and Ali boarded the boat a couple of days later. An English speaker, he communicated the demands of the pirates with officials from Clipper Group, the ship's owner. The pirates initially demanded a USD 7 million ransom, but settled for USD 1.7 million at the end of the more than two-monthlong siege.
The key issue in the trial was whether Ali was an advocate for the pirates or just a translator doing the best he could in a situation not of his own making. Jurors heard Ali talking on recorded phone calls with a negotiator, and also with Clipper Group's chief executive, Per Gullestrup. At one point, Ali declares, "I am the negotiator" and demands that all calls go through him. But the calls also show a friendly, conversational banter, with Gullestrup dropping Ali's name the way one does with a longtime acquaintance, and Gullestrup testified that he built up a level of trust with Ali.
Ali's lawyers sought to paint him as a friend of the US government. Keith Barwick, an agent for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, testified that 10 years ago Ali approached him with information about a company he was working for in the US. The government put the business under investigation, and Ali became a confidential informant.
The company had been selling counterfeit products, such as purses and watches, and Ali's work helped lead to 10 convictions and over USD 1 million in seized merchandise and money. Ali received USD 25,000 for his work from the government, Barwick said, adding that he was a good source.
