Two Somali pirate leaders have been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for their role in kidnapping and holding an American journalist for ransom.
Abdi Yusef Hassan, 56, and Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed, 43, were arrested in the U.S. in 2018-19. Federal prosecutors charged them with hostage taking, terrorism, and firearms offenses in connection with the kidnapping of American freelancer Michael Scott Moore.
In early 2012, Moore made a trip to Somalia to report on piracy, an important driver of revenue for the local economy in some northern villages (and a practice that was about to end). He was ambushed and captured by pirate group members in Galkayo, Somalia on January 21, 2012, and held for two years.
During this time, he was transferred to multiple locations, including a hijacked fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean, and he was threatened with violence multiple times.
His captors forced him to make several videos demanding a ransom payment, and attempted to extort large sums from Moore’s aging mother.
The ransom was paid in September 2014, and the pirates finally released Moore. In all, he was in custody for 977 days.
During Moore’s capture and captivity, Hassan – a naturalized U.S. citizen – was serving in an official capacity as the minister of the interior for Galmudug Province, Somalia. He was also the overall leader of the pirate action group, and he played a part in the ransom video productions and ransom negotiations.
Mohamed was an active-duty Somali Army officer, and had day-to-day supervisory responsibilities in the pirate group, including directing security measures, organizing hostage transfers between safehouse locations, and ensuring weapons maintenance for the group’s small arms – weapons used to enforce Moore’s captivity.
Hasan and Mohamed pled innocent, and after a three-week trial, they were convicted of terrorism and related charges in February 2023.
Moore wrote a well-reviewed memoir about his ordeal, “The Desert and the Sea,” published in 2018.
