WEB DESK: An Indian court has handed life sentences to 44 Somali nationals after convicting them in two piracy cases involving the hijacking of commercial vessels off the Somali coast.
The incidents occurred in separate operations, where armed pirates seized control of a bulk cargo ship and a fishing vessel, holding crew members hostage until they were rescued by the Indian Navy. The suspects were arrested during anti-piracy operations in 2024.
According to rulings delivered by a special court in Mumbai on Monday, all 44 defendants pleaded guilty during the trial.
Presiding Judge SB Dige described the offences as extremely grave, stating that hijacking ships, taking crew members hostage for ransom, attempting to kill them, and using them as human shields were serious crimes deserving the strictest punishment.
One of the attacks took place in December 2023, when 35 Somali pirates captured the Maltese-flagged cargo vessel MV Ruen. In a separate incident in March 2024, another group of nine Somalis hijacked the Iranian-flagged fishing boat Al Kambar.
The convicted men, who have been held at Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai since their arrest, appeared before the court when the verdict was announced. Local media reported that they had requested to be repatriated to Somalia to face trial there, but the plea was not accepted.
Piracy off the Somali coast was at its height during the late 2000s and peaked in 2011, when hundreds of attacks targeted international shipping. Since then, stronger international naval patrols and improved security measures by commercial vessels have sharply reduced such incidents.
The Indian Navy has maintained an anti-piracy presence in the region since 2008 and intensified its operations in 2023 following a renewed rise in attacks across the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, including threats linked to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
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