Two Somali pirates have been sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping American journalist Michael Scott Moore and holding him hostage for 977 days, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Moore, a freelance journalist, traveled to Somalia in 2012 to research piracy and the nation’s economy. On January 21, he was kidnapped by multiple heavily armed men and transported him to a secluded area, where he was held captive along with two fishermen from the Seychelles. Moore was moved several times over the course of three months, then transported to a hijacked boat, the F/V Naham III. Moore and one of the fishermen were held captive there, along with 28 crew members, for several more months, according to the Department of Justice. The fisherman was tortured, and the crew members told Moore that the pirates had killed the ship’s captain when they hijacked the vessel, prosecutors said.
Moore remained a hostage for another two years, continuously shuffled between safehouses, kept under armed guard and chained at night to prevent escape, prosecutors said. He was repeatedly threatened, according to the Department of Justice, and forced to make proof-of-life videos requesting large ransom payments. In 2014, negotiators paid a ransom of $1.6 million to secure Moore’s release. Moore has said his family funded the ransom payment, and published a book about his experience in 2018.
AP
Abdi Yusef Hassan, 56, and Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed, 43, each “played significant roles in Moore’s captivity,” according to the Department of Justice, and were handed 30-year prison sentences.
Hassan, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, served as the minister of the interior in the Somalian province where Moore was captured. That meant he was in charge of police and security forces, but he also “served as an overall leader of the pirates,” according to the Department of Justice. He “headed their efforts to extort a massive ransom from Moore’s aging mother,” the department said, and directed the production of the proof-of-life videos and participated in ransom negotiations. He also used his home as a base of operations for the pirates, the Department of Justice said. He was arrested in Minneapolis in 2019.
Tahlil, also of Mogadishu, served in the nation’s army and was a supervisor of the pirates who guarded Moore during the early months of his time in captivity. He used his military position, training and experience “to serve as the pirates’ head of security and armorer,” according to the Department of Justice, and was in charge of moving Moore from location to location. He also provided and repaired weapons used to keep Moore in captivity. Tahlil was jailed in New York City in 2018.
Both men were convicted of hostage taking, terrorism and firearms offenses after a three-week trial in February 2023. They were sentenced on Tuesday. The Department of Justice did not provide details about where they will serve their sentences.
Each were also sentenced to one day of supervised release, in addition to the prison term.