Publication Date:
Fri, 2011-08-12 23:36
The five were caught by the Dutch navy in the Gulf of Aden in November, armed with machine guns and bazookas.
All were suspected of hijacking a South African yacht, the Choizil, off Tanzania’s coast. Three were acquitted of involvement in that incident but convicted of piracy.
A statement Friday from the Rotterdam court said the judges dismissed arguments that the suspects were driven to piracy by poverty and famine.
Instead, they took into account the professionalism of the pirates in organizing violent attacks against international shipping.
Two decades of anarchy have allowed pirates to flourish off Somalia’s coasts. Some of the captured pirates have been extradited to other countries for prosecution.
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