Asia-Pacific

Somali pirate sentenced to life in jail by ROK

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-27 21:17

SEOUL - A Somali pirate was sentenced on Friday to spend the rest of his life in a South Korean prison after being convicted of attempted murder, hostage taking and maritime robbery.

The Busan District Court handed down a life sentence to Mahomed Arai, 21, convicted of shooting Seok Hae-kyun, captain of a South Korean-operated ship that was hijacked in the Arabian Sea in January this year.

Three other pirates who were brought to South Korea's first trial of foreign pirates along with Arai were cleared of charges of attempted murder against captain Seok.

Yet, they were convicted of attempting to kill crew members and other seven charges including piracy. One of them received a 15- year prison term, while the other two were each given 13 years in prison.

The pirates were captured when South Korean naval commandos stormed the hijacked ship in January, killing eight pirates and rescuing all 21 crew members.

Captain Seok was shot during the rescue and has been recovering in hospital after multiple operations.

Earlier in the day, the prosecution demanded death penalty for Arai and life imprisonment for three others.