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Yemen Court Sentences Somali Pirates to Death


A court in Yemen's capital, Sana'a, has sentenced six Somali pirates to death and six more to 10 years in jail for hijacking a Yemeni ship.

The verdict on Tuesday convicts the 12 Somalis of killing two crew members and wounding four others while trying to seize the oil tanker off the coast of the seaport city of Aden.

The incident occurred in April last year.

Piracy is a major problem off the coast of Somalia, where gangs of pirates have hijacked dozens of ships in the past few years.

International naval patrols have largely not been able to stop the attacks.

Furthermore, many captured pirates have been released because no country would prosecute them. Kenya has conducted some pirate trials but recently said its justice system is overburdened.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

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