Navy captures pirates on containership

Navy captures pirates on containership    Two-dozen U.S. Marines boarded a German-owned containership in the Gulf of Aden Thursday and recaptured it from nine pirates that had tried to seize control of the ship on Wednesday.
   The Navy said the ship was recaptured without shots being fired.
   The crew had locked themselves in a safe room and turned off the engine when they saw the pirates approaching.
   Meanwhile, Intertanko issued a statement Friday applauding the conviction this week of seven Somali men accused of acts of piracy in a Mombasa, Kenya, court.
   It was Kenya's second pirate conviction this year — in March, eight pirates were sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
   'Intertanko commends Kenya for its willingness to assume the responsibility, despite limited resources, to prosecute and incarcerate sentenced pirates,' says said Peter Swift, the group’s managing director. The group called on nations that are signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) with naval forces in the area “to assume their responsibilities to act with force and determination to apprehend suspected pirates and bring them to justice under their national judicial systems.'
   Intertanko said Kenya has taken on 14 pirate cases involving 224 suspected pirates and was one of the first to introduce specific laws domesticating the provisions of UNCLOS thereby updating its national laws on piracy.