Pirate sentenced to death in Puntland

(BRUSSELS2) A pirate leader has been sentenced to death by a court in Puntland, an autonomous province of Somalia, the agencies announce. Salah Mohamed Gelle is accused of the murder of Sayid Jacfar, the Pakistani captain of a vessel captured in early June, the MV QSM Dubai. 7 other pirates involved in this action were sentenced to years in prison (between 10 and 17 years).

The QSM Dubai, a Lebanese ship flying the Panamanian flag, was captured in the Gulf of Aden on June 2 while en route in the international corridor (IRTC) to Brazil. Puntland forces assisted by an American ship, a member of the NATO force, the USS Cole, stormed the next day (1). The pirates had refused to surrender. The captain of the ship was killed, another sailor and two Somali soldiers were injured in the exchange of gunfire. About fifty members of the Puntland forces took part in this release. Officially, the American ship had "assisted in the attack only from afar. The doctor on board was then called upon to give first aid to the victims".

This is the first death sentence handed down to our knowledge in Puntland against a pirate in the past two years. A death sentence was also imposed in May 2010 in Yemen after the attack on a Yemeni tanker.

(1) Read: Life gets tough for pirates! QSM Dubai liberated

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)