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?