Thursday, April 19, 2012
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NORFOLK, Va. (AP) ' The attorney for a Somali man accused of piracy told jurors at trial Wednesday that his client never agreed to negotiate the release of four Americans killed aboard a sailing yacht and he was merely acting as a mediator aboard a hijacked German vessel where hostages were tortured by pirates.Mohammad Saaili Shibin faces piracy, hostage-taking and several other federal charges for his role in the hijacking of a German merchant ship in 2010 as well as an American yacht off Africa in 2011.
Federal prosecutors contend Shibin was a key figure in Somali piracy, acting as a land-based negotiator who researched ships and hostages online after they had been captured to determine how large of a ransom to seek for them once they were brought to lawless Somalia.