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Tadakatsu Honda
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May 18, 2010
6 pirates sentenced to death
Six other pirates were sentenced to 10 years in prison in the hijacking, which also wounded four crew members of the 'Qana' ship that was heading to the port of Aden. -- PHOTO: AFP
DUBAI - A COURT in Yemen sentenced six Somali pirates to death for hijacking a Yemeni oil tanker in April 2009, killing one Yemeni crew member and leaving another missing, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
Six other pirates were sentenced to 10 years in prison in the hijacking, which also wounded four crew members of the 'Qana' ship that was heading to the port of Aden.
Heavily armed Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and the strategic Gulf of Aden, through which an estimated 7 per cent of world oil consumption passes.
Part of Tuesday's ruling by a criminal court requires the convicted pirates to pay the company that owns the hijacked vessel, Masafi Aden, a sum of 2 million Yemen riyals (S$12,254).
The Defence Ministry's online newspaper said the court would require Masafi Aden to pay a certain portion of the reparations to the Yemeni victims' families.
Somali piracy attacks have been on the rise in recent months, naval officials say, and their range is widening as pirates adapt to international efforts to thwart them. -- REUTERS
