Muse was a hired hand from a war-torn country who became involved in piracy because of poverty. Muse’s lawyers had asked for a sentence at the bottom of the range, arguing that Mr. “Indeed, it is this marked uptick in piracy and armed robbery at sea and the need to deter other individuals from undertaking this kind of conduct,” Judge Preska said, that “makes the higher sentence Preska, made clear that she saw deterrence as critical, citing a United Nations report that showed a sharp increase The government agreed to drop a charge of piracy, which carries a mandatory life sentence.īefore imposing the sentence at the top of that range, as prosecutors had requested, the judge, Loretta A. As part of the plea, his lawyers and prosecutors agreed that a reasonable sentence would be 27 years to 33 years and 9 months. Muse pleaded guilty in May to hijacking, hostage-taking, kidnapping and conspiracy.

It will be his voice that they hear, and it will be his laugh that will haunt them.” Muse “relished in the suffering of his victims,” a prosecutor, Brendan R. MuseĪnd his men held the crew at gunpoint and even played Russian roulette with the captain, Richard Phillips. Muse led a group of pirates in the violent takeovers of three ships in March and April 2009, culminating in the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama.

“are not Johnny Depps,” a reference to “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Victim impact statements came from seamen, one of whom stressed that real-life pirates It is not often that a case of piracy on the high seas is adjudicated in New York, and the proceedings on Wednesday reflected that. The man, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, whose age is inĭispute, was the only survivor among four men who hijacked the Maersk Alabama on Apthe others were killed during a daring Navy Seal operation in which the ship’s captain was rescued. Eric Thayer/Reuters Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse at a 2009 court appearance.Ī Somali man who pleaded guilty to hijacking an American-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Africa in 2009 was sentenced on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan to 33 years and 9 months in prison.

Abduwali muse real life