OT - Piracy

[Targan]

I just read this article on the Australian ABC News website:

"The Australian Navy has rescued a group of sailors who were being held hostage by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa.

The Defence Force says the pirates boarded the Yemeni-flagged boat several weeks ago and were holding three crew members hostage.

HMAS Stuart was in the area and sent a boarding crew to rescue the boat on Monday.

Defence says no shots were fired during the rescue and 15 pirates quickly surrendered to the Australian crew.

It says 11 AK-47 assault rifles with 16 magazines, a large quantity of small arms ammunition and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher with grenades were found during a search of the boat.

The weapons were catalogued and thrown overboard and the unarmed pirates were released with enough food and water to make it back to shore.

The Yemeni boat was then safely escorted from the area by HMAS Stuart."

The section in bold was highlighted by me for emphasis. I'm far from being an expert in international maritime law but WHAT THE HELL?

Throwing the pirates' weapons and ammo overboard and letting them go? Is it just me or does that seem to be, well, INSANE?

They are pirates for cryin' out loud. Somali pirates terrorise, wound and kill innocent sailors on a regular basis. I personally think they should be given a brief trial by ranking officers aboard the navy vessels that capture them and then, if found to have been engaged in armed piracy, summarily executed.

At the very least I would have thought they should be held in custody for trial by the most appropriate authority. Anyone know anything about international maritime law?

[Legbreaker]

This is an issue which has been raised by the media, etc in the past. It turns out that the pirates are supposed to be returned to the country of origin for trial when captured in international waters.
Given the sad state of the justice system in the region, and the fact that the capturing force (Australians in this case) are not nationals, the chance of a successful (or any) prosecution is near nil. Even if convicted, the penalty has often amounted to little more than a good behaviour bond of a couple of months.

Part of the reason behind the leniency is that the pirates are actually contributing significantly to the national economy...

[Abbott Shaull]

Originally Posted by Targan

I just read this article on the Australian ABC News website:

"The Australian Navy has rescued a group of sailors who were being held hostage by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa.

The Defence Force says the pirates boarded the Yemeni-flagged boat several weeks ago and were holding three crew members hostage.

HMAS Stuart was in the area and sent a boarding crew to rescue the boat on Monday.

Defence says no shots were fired during the rescue and 15 pirates quickly surrendered to the Australian crew.

It says 11 AK-47 assault rifles with 16 magazines, a large quantity of small arms ammunition and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher with grenades were found during a search of the boat.

The weapons were catalogued and thrown overboard and the unarmed pirates were released with enough food and water to make it back to shore.

The Yemeni boat was then safely escorted from the area by HMAS Stuart."

The section in bold was highlighted by me for emphasis. I'm far from being an expert in international maritime law but WHAT THE HELL?

Throwing the pirates' weapons and ammo overboard and letting them go? Is it just me or does that seem to be, well, INSANE?

They are pirates for cryin' out loud. Somali pirates terrorise, wound and kill innocent sailors on a regular basis. I personally think they should be given a brief trial by ranking officers aboard the navy vessels that capture them and then, if found to have been engaged in armed piracy, summarily executed.

At the very least I would have thought they should be held in custody for trial by the most appropriate authority. Anyone know anything about international maritime law?

Okay there are some things that I am finding hard that I am defending the actions of releasing. I totally agree they should be put on trail, and with the evidence they should be killed. Yet, we live in a politically correct age, so if we found them guilty and can't say beyond shadow of doubt they were responsible for killing anyone, the most that will happen is they will go to some country and rot in Prison costing money that many governments don't have for more prisoners.

Honestly, if you capturing pirates out in the open sea, well double tap will take care of that. I mean if they are armed and holding people hostages, they are doubtlessly guilty and probably do it again.

Now with that said many of these people are doing this to support their families and clans. So on one hand if we start killing them out of hand because they were pirates, you would see lot of people thinking twice before doing this, but also at the same time pissing of some people who believe that because new world economy has passed them by, they are owed somethings. The real solution is if people want to stop this, is to get where these people have jobs that can support their families where they don't have resort this. Or just put them on show trail and execute them. Either way you will still have lot of things to understand that whatever you do, their will be those who think you not doing enough and those pissy and wanting to go out get revenge later.

Just some thoughts.

[Arrissen]

I did a bit of research on international maritime law a few months ago and well it was slow going. There isn't really alot of clearly defined info out there that's easy to find. In general it seems that the international laws are one thing but when inside the terrtorial waters of a nation their laws need to be obeyed, so it starts to get tricky. Particularly with the issue of carrying weapons at sea on board a private vessel for ship board defence purposes, for example.

As for our apparently soft approach toward this incident, I suppose that by throwing their weapons over board, which means they can't use them again is something at least - we don't need them. And by releasing them I guess it says that we really don't rate them at all as a threat. If they had of resisted they would have been shot but they must have heard that the Australians were coming and so they just gave up! Makes sense to me. I mean sure throwing them over board would be a highly effective deterent, but by sending them home with a smack on the wrist and a care package, well they are the one's then IMO who are made to look really stupid, not to mention absolutely useless as pirates. After all if they are just going to board a ship and do nothing but baby sit the crew they may as well just stay home like the big girls they obviously are and do some knitting for UNICEF or something.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Arrissen

I mean sure throwing them over board would be a highly effective deterent, but by sending them home with a smack on the wrist and a care package, well they are the one's then IMO who are made to look really stupid, not to mention absolutely useless as pirates. After all if they are just going to board a ship and do nothing but baby sit the crew they may as well just stay home like the big girls they obviously are and do some knitting for UNICEF or something.

LOL!

But seriously, if they're desperate enough to try piracy once and they get caught and then discover that as long as they don't put up a fight they get to keep their boat and go home, they'll keep engaging in piracy for sure. I know I would if I were them.

[Legbreaker]

It's a major issue that virtually nobody in the western world wants to tackle effectively. As A.S. mentioned, it requires work to improve conditions and employment within their home country. It's far, far easier for the west to sail a few warships around the area, wave the flag and look like they're "solving" the problem.
Nothing will change until conditions on land improve and law and order becomes more than just a couple of dirty words.

[Rainbow Six]

For what it's worth, the Royal Navy recently did more or less exactly the same thing...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today...00/9455297.stm