Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Somali pirate in King Arthur's court!

Yes, people, we got ourselves a pirate trial coming up in NYC!

"Wali-i-Musi is the first person to be tried in the United States on piracy charges in more than a century. He was flown from Africa to a New York airport and taken into custody ahead of a court hearing Tuesday."

Here are some fun quotes. First Wali's mom:

his mother appealed to President Barack Obama for his release. She says her son was coaxed into piracy by "gangsters with money."

"I appeal to President Obama to pardon my teenager; I request him to release my son or at least allow me to see him and be with him during the trial," Adar Abdirahman Hassan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from her home in Galka'yo town in Somalia.

Next up is the executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center (based in Minnesota!!!), Omar Jamal:

"What we have is a confused teenager, overnight thrown into the highest level of the criminal justice system in the United States out of a country where there's no law at all," Jamal said. Wali-i-Musi speaks no English and may never have attended school, he said.

Finally, Ron Kuby esq., barrister extrordinaire:

"I think in this particular case, there's a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas," said Kuby. "This man seemed to come onto the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age."

Comments: (1) is Obama somehow stopping Wali's mom from attending the trial? We won't give her a Visa?(2) it is so awesome that the SJAC is in Minneapolis! (3) God, I love lawyers!

4 comments:

Kunal said...

Reason for visit: Giving comfort to accused pirate.

Seriously? You really think she would a visa?

Angus said...

I'd give her a visa to come to the trial of her baby boy, yes sir!

Tom said...

It's "truce in warfare"? What war would that be, exactly?

If I decide to knock over a local convience store, can I call that a war, too?

I'd give the mother a visa, also (but then, I'd give one to almost anyone).

John Thacker said...

it is so awesome that the SJAC is in Minneapolis!There's a ton of Somalis in Minneapolis. Perhaps they're tired of the heat.

Actually, it's caused some news stories before because most cab drivers are Somali in Minneapolis. It seems that some cab drivers decided (along with Wahabi clerics) that knowingly carrying dogs or alcohol in your cab was a sin against Islam, so they needed to refuse fares from such passengers. And they decided that they needed to pressure other cab drivers into also refusing such passengers.