Judge: Somali accused of piracy to go to trial - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Judge: Somali accused of piracy to go to trial

NORFOLK, Va. — A Somali man who prosecutors consider the highest-ranking pirate the U.S. has ever captured will stand trial after a federal judge on Thursday refused to dismiss the charges against him.

Mohammad Saaili Shibin faces a litany of charges in connection with the hijacking of a U.S. yacht in which all four Americans on board were shot and killed. He also faces piracy charges related to the hijacking of a German merchant vessel.

Unlike other pirates who have pleaded guilty in U.S. courtrooms, Shibin never set out to sea and he was arrested inside Somalia by the FBI after being turned over by Somali troops, according to courtroom testimony.

Prosecutors say Shibin acted as a land-based negotiator who researched the Americans online to determine how much of a ransom to seek for them. FBI agents said Shibin went so far as to set up alerts on his cell phone to notify him when a vessel had been pirated off Somalia, although Shibin said he only did so out of curiosity.

Shibin’s court-appointed attorney, James Broccoletti, had argued that all the charges against Shibin should be dismissed because it’s too dangerous for him to travel to Somalia, interview witnesses and provide an adequate defense.

U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar said he realizes that conditions in Somalia will make it difficult for Broccoletti to do his job, but he said that just because Somalia is a “rogue state” that doesn’t mean that someone from that country can’t be tried. He denied Brocoletti’s motion and noted that there are difficulties interviewing witnesses in other cases too, such as killings involving gang members.

“Every case has problems,” Doumar said.

Although Doumar said that the case against the 52-year-old Shibin will go to trial this spring it is still possible that charges against him could be dismissed once he hears additional evidence.

That’s because Broccoletti filed other motions asking for the charges to be dismissed for various other reasons. In one of the motions, Broccoletti contends that the piracy charges should be dismissed because Shibin didn’t commit robbery at sea.

The owners of the yacht called the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death in February, several days after their boat was boarded by a band of pirates several hundred miles south of Oman.

They were the first U.S. citizens killed in a wave of pirate attacks that have plagued the Indian Ocean in recent years, despite an international flotilla of warships patrolling the area. Negotiations with the U.S. Navy were under way when shots were fired aboard the Quest, although Shibin was not a part of those negotiations. The pirates had been seeking to take the Americans back to Somalia so that Shibin could negotiate their release.

Eleven other men have pleaded guilty in the case, while three others are facing murder charges.

A federal appeals court is currently reviewing whether someone can be charged with piracy if they didn’t board and rob a vessel. Doumar said he hopes that decision will come down soon to offer him guidance on that issue.

Broccoletti also contends that the charges against Shibin, which include hostage-taking, kidnapping and should be dismissed because the U.S. lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute him.

Shibin’s jury trial is scheduled to begin April 17. He has pleaded not guilty to each of the charges.