U.S. appeals dismissal of piracy charge

U.S. appeals dismissal of piracy charge    The U.S. government is appealing a district court’s decision to dismiss piracy charges against five Somali men who were accused of attacking a U.S. Navy ship Ashland in April.
   The Associated Press said the government filed an appeal in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Norfolk on Friday of Judge Raymond A. Jackson's decision last month, that dismissed the most serious charge against six men charged in the attack.
   Following Jackson’s ruling, one of the defendants in the case, Jama Idle Ibrahim, pled guilty on Aug. 27 to acts of piracy against the USS Ashland. The government said Ibrahim believed it was a merchant vessel that he intended to seize and hold for ransom. In addition, Ibrahim was charged with crimes growing out of another alleged act of piracy in the Gulf of Aden against a merchant vessel, the CEC Future. Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said that was “the first conviction in Norfolk for acts of piracy in more than 150 years.
   The five accused in the April 10 attack on the Ashland claim they were ferrying refuges. Their boat was destroyed by one of the Ashland’s 25mm cannons; one occupant of the skiff was killed and several others were injured. Their attorneys argued the defendants were not guilty of piracy, because they did not board the ship or commit robbery at sea.