Highlights:
Former Somali piracy kingpin was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Belgian court. He was lured to Belgium in 2013 for a fictitious film project based on his life as a pirate when he was instead arrested.
Mohamed Abdi Hassan aka Afwayne is said to have led the pirates that took hostage of a Pompei a Belgian ship along with its crew members in 2009.
Summary:
Popular Somali piracy kingpin Mohamed Abdi Hassan aka Afwayne has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Belgian court. Afwayne was the leader of the pirates that hijacked and took hostage of Pompei, a Belgian ship alongside its crew members for more than 70 days in 2009.
Afwayne was lured to Belgium by the Belgian police through an undercover operation that was geared at persuading him to travel to the European country for a film project about his life as a famous pirate. He was taken into custody upon arriving in Belgium in 2013 were he was charged with hijacking and torture.
A Belgian court in the northern city of Bruges found the 58-year old Afwayne guilty of all charges brought against him and sentenced him to 20 years in prison as well as pay a fine of 20,00 euros to the captain of the Dutch ship and his family. Another of his crew identified as Hassan was sentenced for 5 years for his role in the hijacking.
Pompei a Belgian ship was hijacked by Mohamed Abdi Hassan aka Afwayne and his crew in 2009 where they held its crew members for over 70 days where they were tortured. Afwayne and his colleagues were able to extort a 2 million euro ransom to release the ship. Pompei was hijacked off Somalia’s coast en route to South Africa for dredging works.
