Germany: Somali gets 12 years for tanker hijacking
BERLIN (AP) — A German court has sentenced a Somali man to 12 years in prison for helping lead a group of pirates who seized a German-operated oil tanker in 2010.
The Osnabrueck state court said in a statement that the man was convicted Thursday of kidnapping and extortion in the hijacking of the Marida Marguerite off Somalia. In keeping with German privacy rules, it didn't give the 44-year-old's name.
The defendant was arrested last May at a center for asylum seekers in Germany.
The court says the Marida Marguerite's 22 crewmembers were tortured during the hijacking — which ended after more than seven months with a $5 million ransom payment. It says the defendant was one of the last pirates to leave the ship.
