Somali Pirate “Ringleader” Facing Life in Prison May Be Only 15 or 16 Years Old

The Somali teenager accused of being the “ringleader” of the pirates who held a US captain hostage may be as young as 15 years old. Doesn’t he have some rights?

By Jeremy Scahill

Federal prosecutors in New York are moving forward with the first US prosecution in a century of a “pirate.” The accused is Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse. Prosecutors say the 5’2 Somali teenager was the ringleader of the four pirates who boarded the Maersk Alabama, a US-flagged ship owned by a Pentagon contractor. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. While prosecutors say he is 18 or 19 years old, his mother insists he is 16 and Muse’s court appointed defense lawyer says he is about 15 years old and is entitled to rights and protections under international law. This is indeed a very sad story. According to one of the Maersk crew, when Muse realized that it was a US ship, the boy told the crew his dream was to come to America. The AP reports:

Omar Jamal, executive director of Somali Justice Advocacy Center in Minneapolis, said his Somali immigrant organization made contact with family members of the pirates during the hostage standoff.

Muse’s family members “don’t have any money. The father has some camels and cows and goats outside the city. … The father goes outside with the livestock and comes home at night. Father said they don’t have any money, they are broke,” Jamal said.

Muse’s mother sells milk at a small market every day, saving around $6 every month for school fees for her oldest son. She pays $15 a month in rent.

Jamal said his organization was working to get a lawyer for Muse and to find if he has medical or mental problems.

“What we have is a confused teenager, overnight thrown into the highest level of the criminal justice system in the United States out of a country where there’s no law at all,” Jamal said.

It seems to me like the Center for Constitutional Rights or another organization with resources greater than those of a public defender should consider taking on this case, especially if this kid really is 15 or 16.