Kenyan court halts prosecution of pirates

  1. Posted on Wednesday 10 November 2010 - 11:20
    Muhyadin
    Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    A Kenyan court has ordered the prosecution of Somali pirates in the coastal town of Mombasa to halt, saying that country has no jurisdiction to try the cases which happened outside its territory.
    gavel
    High Court Judge Mohammed Ibrahim ordered the release and repatriation of nine Somali men who were facing piracy charges in Mombasa.

    The men were arrested by a German naval vessel with the help of U.S helicopters in the Gulf of Aden in March 2009 and handed over to Kenya.

    They were accused for attempting to hijack a German owned Freighter MV Courier.

    Mr. Ibrahim said that changes to part of a law under which the suspects were being tried -- section 69 of the Penal Code -- had forced him to cut short their cases.

    "Had the repeal ... not taken place, I would have been able to conclude this judgment at this stage, as I have held that the trial court has no jurisdiction over this case as the offence ... took place in the high seas and not within the territorial waters of Kenya," he said in his court ruling in the port city of Mombasa.

    "I do declare this is the obligation of the government under the constitution and all international conventions on human rights to ensure the safe passage and delivery of the applicants."

    He asked the Attorney General to advise the ministry of Immigration, foreign affairs, police and other law enforcement agencies to arrange for the repatriation of released men.

    "In default, this court requests the UNHCR (U.N. refugee agency) to take custody and care of the applicants and consider them as displaced persons who require their protection and assist them relocate," Ibrahim said.

    The ruling comes just days after a separate court released 17 suspected Somali pirates due to lack of evidence.

    The East African nation has so far convicted 26 suspects captured at sea off Somalia while More than 100 suspected Somali pirates are currently being held in Kenyan prisons.

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