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Abduwali Muse Abduwali Muse ) is a Somali ship hijacker.
He is the sole survivor of four pirates who hijacked the MV Maersk Alabama in April 2009
and then held the captain for ransom. On February 16, 2011, Muse was sentenced to over 33 years
in US federal prison. Early life
Muse was born in Galkayo, a divided city in north-central Somalia. The Federal Bureau
of Prisons states he was born in 1990, while his mother states he was born in 1992, and
his father states he was born in 1993. At a hearing to determine Muse's age, Assistant
United States Attorney Brendan McGuire informed U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Andrew J. Peck,
that Muse had told Americans he was 16, 18, 19 and 26 years old.
Muse is very short—Colleen Long and Larry Neumeister, writing for the Associated Press,
reported that Muse was, "only five foot two inches (157 cm) tall."
Attack on the Maersk Alabama According to his indictment, Muse was the
first of the four men who boarded the Maersk Alabama. During the attack, he was stabbed
in the hand by a sailor. The crew tied Muse up for 12 hours and offered him in exchange
for the Alabama's captain, Richard Phillips. Muse was thought to be the first person to
be charged with piracy in an American court in more than 100 years, when courts ruled
in 1885 that the Ambrose Light was not a pirate vessel. A more recent case, 2008's United
States v. ***, which was quoted in his indictment, involves *** and a crew member taking over
a ship and holding a hostage. Additional attacks
In 2010, Muse was charged in connection with two additional attacks on international shipping.
The indictment does not name the two vessels involved, hijacked in April and May 2009.
However, they are likely to include the 800-tonne fishing vessel Win Far 161, which was used
as a mother ship in other attacks, including the Maersk Alabama hijacking. Two of the Win
Far 161's crew, one sailor from mainland China and the other from Indonesia, died of illness.
Trial Muse was tried in United States District Court
for the Southern District of New York in New York City.
As mentioned, there was some confusion as to his age. According to the New York Daily
News, he was at the time 17 to 19 years old. Muse was charged, and was to stand trial in
New York because of the local FBI office's expertise in handling cases where major crimes
were perpetrated against Americans in Africa, such as the 1998 United States embassy bombings
in Kenya and Tanzania. CBC News also reported that U.S. authorities had considered transferring
him to authorities in Kenya per international agreement to prosecute pirate suspects.
When initially captured, U.S. officials reported Muse as being 16 to 20 years old, and that
his name was Abduhl Wali-i-Musi. United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also asserted
that all four pirate suspects were between the ages of 17 and 19. On April 20, 2009,
CBC News reported that U.S. officials indicated that investigators had confirmed Muse was
over 18, which precluded additional legal steps to prosecute him.
However, Muse's mother, Adar Abdurahman Hassan, stated in a telephone interview with the Associated
Press that the U.S. authorities had both his name and age wrong. She indicated that he
was only 16 years old and that his name was Abdi Wali Abdulqadir Muse. In an interview
with the BBC Somali service, Muse's mother also appealed to the U.S. government and president
to free her son, asserting that Muse had been lured into pirate activity by wealthy criminals.
According to Ron Kuby, a civil rights lawyer who has considered offering his services to
Muse: In a court ruling on April 21, 2009, U.S.
magistrate judge Andrew J. Peck decided Muse was not under 18 and that he could be tried
as an adult. Muse was then brought to New York to face trial on charges including piracy
under the law of nations, conspiracy to seize a ship by force, conspiracy to commit hostage-taking,
and firearms related charges, carrying a potential of up to four life sentences. The charge of
piracy has a mandatory life sentence (18 USC 1651), and there is no parole in U.S. federal
prisons. On May 19, 2009, a federal grand jury in New
York returned a ten-count indictment against Muse.
Muse pleaded guilty to the hijacking, kidnapping and hostage-taking charges on May 18, 2010.
Charges of piracy and possession of a machine gun were dropped in exchange for the guilty
plea. On February 16, 2011, Muse was sentenced to
33 years and 9 months in federal prison. As of February 2012, he is incarcerated at the
Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.