Somali pirate sentenced to 25 years in prison

Somali pirate sentenced to 25 years in prison    Jama Idle Ibrahim was sentenced Thursday by a U.S. District Court judge in the District of Columbia to 25 years in prison for a violent act of piracy in the Gulf of Aden against the merchant vessel, the CEC Future.
   Ibrahim, 39, aka Jaamac Ciidle, of Somalia was found guilty for an attack that began in November 2008 and lasted for 71 days through Jan. 16, 2009. He pled guilty on Sept. 8, 2010 to conspiracy to commit piracy under the law of nations and conspiracy to use a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Judge Paul L. Friedman gave him the maximum penalty of five years in prison for the piracy conspiracy charge and the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the firearm conspiracy charge.
   According to a statement of facts presented to the court, Ibrahim and other Somalis were armed with AK 47s, a rocket-propelled grenade, and handguns when they attacked and seized the vessel.
   The ship is owned by Clipper Group, a Danish company, and contained cargo belonging to a Texas-based company, McDermott International Inc.
   The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia said pirates approached the merchant ship in high-speed boats, and fired their weapons at the vessel in order to accomplish the takeover. They held the vessel, cargo and 13 crewmembers for ransom and forced the crew to anchor in waters off the Somalia coast. During the takeover, additional pirates boarded the vessel, and the pirates threatened the crew and controlled their movements with their weapons. The pirates stole money, food and supplies from the ship. The vessel finally was released on Jan. 16, 2009, after Clipper Group delivered $1.7 million in ransom to the pirates.
   Per Gullestrup, chief executive officer of the Clipper Group, attended the sentencing. In a letter to Friedman, Gullestrup told the court of the importance of bringing pirates to justice and said he was grateful that the case against Ibrahim was pursued in the U.S. legal system.
   In November 2010, Ibrahim was also sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in the Eastern District of Virginia following a guilty plea to charges stemming from an April 10, 2010, pirate attack on a U.S. Navy vessel, the USS Ashland, also in the Gulf of Aden. The sentence from the District of Columbia is to run concurrently with the sentence from Virginia. ' Chris Dupin