Two Somalian Pirates Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Terrorism Over Armed Hostage Taking of American Journalist

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has announced that two Somalian men have been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the Armed Hostage Taking of an American journalist.

Abdi Yusuf Hassan, 56, and Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed, 43, were both sentenced to 30 years in prison for hostage-taking, terrorism, and firearms offenses for the 977-day kidnapping of Michael Scott Moore in Somalia.

The two men were convicted in February 2023 following a three-week trial. Hassan is a naturalized US citizen.

In a press release about the sentencing, the attorney’s office explained:

In January 2012, Michael Scott Moore, an American freelance journalist, traveled to Somalia to research piracy and the Somali economy. On January 21, 2012, Moore was driving in the vicinity of Galkayo, Somalia, when his vehicle was suddenly surrounded by a group of heavily armed men carrying assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The men pulled Moore from his vehicle, beat him with their weapons, and drove him away in another vehicle to a secluded area, where they held him with two Seychellois fishermen (“Fisherman-1” and “Fisherman-2”). The fishermen had been abducted off the Somali coast in October 2011. Moore was held in various locations in the vicinity of Hobyo, Somalia, for approximately three months.

In April 2012, Moore and Fisherman-1 were transferred to a boat, F/V Naham III, which had previously been hijacked in March 2012. The pirates kept Moore and Fisherman-1 captive aboard the Naham III, along with 28 crew members of the ship. Moore learned from the crew members, who were from Vietnam, China, Philippines, and Taiwan, that the hostage takers murdered the captain of the ship when they captured the vessel and that his body was kept in the ship’s freezer. The hostage takers kept Moore on the Naham III until approximately August 2012, when they transferred him back to land. On one occasion, in approximately May 2012, Moore’s captors took him from the Naham III to the Somali bush, where they forced Moore to watch as they hung Fisherman-1 from a tree by his feet and beat Fisherman-1 with a cane. During the torture of Fisherman-1, the pirates who were present were armed with heavy weaponry, including machine guns and grenade launchers.

Moore was held captive for an additional two years, being shuttled between safehouses and chained up in the evenings. He was constantly surrounded by armed guards and threatened with violence.

The press release continued, “Moore was also forced to make several proof-of-life videos requesting large ransom payments for his release. The kidnappers provided Moore with almost no information, and his access to the outside world was limited to a radio. In September 2014, following the payment of a ransom, Moore’s captors released him.”

Hassan served as the Minister of the Interior (a role that made him responsible for police and security forces) in Galmudug province in Somalia, where Moore was held hostage. He was also the leader of the pirates, directed the production of proof-of-life videos with Moore, participated in negotiations for ransom payments, and used his own home as a base of operations.

Mohamed was a serving officer in the Somali army and a supervisor of the pirates guarding Moore during the early stages of the hostage-taking. He also “leveraged his military background to provide and repair heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and other weapons that the pirates used to ensure that Moore could not escape.”

“For nearly three years, Michael Scott Moore was held hostage in Somalia by pirates,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.

Williams continued, “He was beaten, chained to the floor, and threatened with assault rifles and machine guns. Hassan and Mohamed were key players in that hostage taking. Both abused their positions in Somalia’s government—Hassan, as a senior security official, and Mohamed as an army officer—by keeping a U.S. citizen captive to satisfy their own greed. Today’s sentences demonstrate our resolve to hold those who take Americans hostage accountable for their crimes.”

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