NEW YORK — Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse grew up destitute in Somalia, the product of a violent, lawless nation where his mother scraped together a few dollars a day selling milk and tending to a small herd of animals.
He eventually joined up with pirates who laid siege to an American cargo ship and took the captain hostage. The standoff ended last week with three of the pirates killed by U.S. Navy snipers. Muse survived but was stabbed in the hand with an ice pick. On Tuesday, the teenager found himself a world away from the dusty tenements and pirate ships of Somalia, appearing in a packed federal courtroom in New York on what are believed to be the first piracy charges in the U.S. in more than a century.
Muse looked bewildered and scrawny in clothes several sizes too big.
Muse was charged with piracy, conspiracy and brandishing and firing a gun during a conspiracy. The most serious count carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The government says he is 18. A federal judge agreed Tuesday, ruling that Muse is an adult and that the case can proceed in open court. But his lawyers are likely to press on with their argument that he is just 15. If he is found to be underage, defense lawyers could try to have the case tossed out or seek leniency if he is convicted.
by the associated press
He eventually joined up with pirates who laid siege to an American cargo ship and took the captain hostage. The standoff ended last week with three of the pirates killed by U.S. Navy snipers. Muse survived but was stabbed in the hand with an ice pick. On Tuesday, the teenager found himself a world away from the dusty tenements and pirate ships of Somalia, appearing in a packed federal courtroom in New York on what are believed to be the first piracy charges in the U.S. in more than a century.
Muse looked bewildered and scrawny in clothes several sizes too big.
Muse was charged with piracy, conspiracy and brandishing and firing a gun during a conspiracy. The most serious count carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The government says he is 18. A federal judge agreed Tuesday, ruling that Muse is an adult and that the case can proceed in open court. But his lawyers are likely to press on with their argument that he is just 15. If he is found to be underage, defense lawyers could try to have the case tossed out or seek leniency if he is convicted.
by the associated press
