2 Somali Pirates Sentenced to Life

Two Somali pirates were sentenced to life in prison Monday for their roles in a February including St. Monica Catholic Church parishioners Jean and Scott Adam, .

Ali Abdi Mohamed, aka Basher, 30, and Burhan Abdirahman Yusuf, a.k.a. Burhan or Famah, 31, both of Somalia, were sentenced in federal court in Norfolk, Va. They had previously , which carries a mandatory life sentence.

“Piracy is a scourge that threatens nations, commerce, and individual lives,” said Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “This is the first case where American lives have been lost due to Somali piracy, and as Somali pirates expand their territory, the risk of violence and harm to others continues to grow. Today’s sentences send a message to all those who participate in piracy that armed attacks on the high seas carry lifelong consequences.”

Nine co-conspirators also have pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks.

The Adams departed in 2004 on a worldwide voyage aboard the S/V Quest that included the distribution of Bibles.

Three alleged pirates—Ahmed Muse Salad, aka “Afmagalo,” 25; Abukar Osman Beyle, 20; and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar, 29—have been charged in a 26-count superseding indictment with the kidnapping, hostage-taking and murder of the Adam couple, along with Phyllis Macay and Robert Riggle, a Seattle couple aboard the S/V Quest. Twenty-two of the 26 counts against the three men are death-eligible offenses.

Mohamed and Yusuf were among 19 Somalis who conspired to sail the waters off Somalia in search of a vessel to pirate and hold for ransom, court documents said. The men anticipated receiving a percentage of any ransom received, minus 35 percent to the operation's financier.

The Somali pirates were about 900 miles from Somalia and running low on fuel when they spotted the Adam's yacht S/V Quest and decided to take it, according to court documents.

U.S. warships overtook the pirates and their leader, Mohamud Salad Ali, and skiff driver Muhidin Salad Omar boarded the USS Sterett to negotiate. U.S. military officials told the men they do not pay ransoms, but they could keep the yacht if they released the hostages. The conspirators refused to release the hostages because they believed they would get little money for the yacht, court documents said.

A pirate named Ibrahim, who was in charge after Mohamud Salad Ali left the Quest but is now deceased, told the military they were not going to stop and others discussed killing the hostages to force the U.S. warships to retreat, according to court documents.

Mohamed was ordered to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at the USS Sterett as a warning shot and at the same time the three pirates charged with murder started opening fire on the hostages, according to court documents

U.S. special forces boarded the Quest and found that all four hostages had been shot. Fifteen people were taken into custody, including a juvenile who has not been charged in this case, and four men were not taken into custody because they were dead.

An alleged ransom negotiator, Mohammad Saaili Shibin, aka “Khalif Ahmed Shibin,” aka “Shibin,” 50, of Somalia, was charged Aug. 18 in a superseding indictment for his alleged role as a ransom negotiator in the attack on the Quest. He also was charged for having a similar role in a separate attack on the M/V Marida Marguerite, a German-owned vessel with a crew of 22 men who were held hostage off the coast of Somalia from May to December 2010.

According to the indictment, Shibin spoke with the owners of the Marida Marguerite and successfully extracted a ransom payment for the vessel and its crew. The indictment states that Shibin received approximately $30,000 to $50,000 in U.S. currency as his share of the ransom payment.

The investigation of the case is being conducted by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Jean and Scott Adam departed for their worldwide voyage in 2004. A funeral service was held for them in March at St. Monica, where Jean used to sing in the church choir. The St. Monica Music Ministry in March also released a collection of music in their memory, with proceeds going to the Community Center Music Ministry Suite that will be built on the church's new campus.

Related stories:

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• 11th Man Pleads Guilty to Piracy in Jean and Scott Adam Case

• 15th Pirate Indicted in Case Involving Killings of Jean and Scott Adam

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This article was originally published on Marina del Rey Patch.