Current:Home > BackTwo convicted of helping pirates who kidnapped German-American journalist and held him 2-1/2 years-LoTradeCoin
Two convicted of helping pirates who kidnapped German-American journalist and held him 2-1/2 years
View Date:2024-12-23 11:46:04
Two men have been convicted of helping Somali pirates who kidnapped a U.S. journalist for ransom and held him for 2-1/2 years, prosecutors said.
Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed and Abdi Yusuf Hassan were convicted by a federal court jury in New York on Feb. 24 of hostage-taking, conspiracy, providing material support for acts of terrorism and other crimes that carry potential life sentences.
Michael Scott Moore, a German-American journalist, was abducted in January 2012 in Galkayo, Somalia, 400 miles northeast of the capital of Mogadishu. He was working as a freelancer for the German publication Spiegel Online and researching a book about piracy.
The kidnappers demanded $20 million in ransom and at one point released a video showing Moore surrounded by masked kidnappers who pointed a machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade at him.
Moore was freed in September 2014. Moore has said his family raised $1.6 million for his release.
"Tahlil, a Somali Army officer, left his post to take command of the pirates holding Moore captive and obtained the machine guns and grenade launchers used to threaten and hold Moore," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "Hassan, the Minister of Interior and Security for the province in Somalia where Moore was held hostage, abused his government position and led the pirates' efforts to extort a massive ransom from Moore's mother."
Hassan, who was born in Mogadishu, is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was arrested in Minneapolis in 2019 and charged with federal crimes.
Details of Tahlil's arrest haven't been disclosed but he was jailed in New York City in 2018.
In a 2018 book Moore wrote about his captivity, he said Tahlil got in touch with him from Somalia by Facebook two months after the journalist's release and included a photograph. Moore recognized him as the ""boss" of his guards.
The men began a correspondence.
"I hope u are fine," Tahlil said, according to the book. "The pirates who held u hostage killed each other over group vendetta and money issues."
According to the criminal complaint reported by The New York Times, that was consistent with reports that some pirates were killed in a dispute over division of Moore's ransom.
Hassan and Tahlil were scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6.
Attorneys for the two men were emailed for comment by The Associated Press after hours on Monday but the messages weren't immediately returned.
- In:
- Somalia
- Kidnapping
veryGood! (31714)
Related
- Trump’s economic agenda for his second term is clouding the outlook for mortgage rates
- 'Serving Love': Coco Gauff partners with Barilla to give away free pasta, groceries. How to enter.
- Stung 2,000 times: Maintenance worker hospitalized after bees attack at golf course
- Beyoncé's Birthday Wish Will Have Fans Upgrading Their Renaissance Tour Outfits
- Alexandra Daddario shares first postpartum photo of baby: 'Women's bodies are amazing'
- Jennifer Aniston Reveals Adam Sandler Sends Her Flowers Every Mother's Day Amid Past Fertility Struggles
- Kerry Washington, Martin Sheen call for union solidarity during actors strike rally
- St. Louis proposal would ban ‘military-grade’ weapons, prohibit guns for ‘insurrectionists’
- Larry Hobbs, who guided AP’s coverage of Florida news for decades, has died at 83
- Rail union wants new rules to improve conductor training in the wake of 2 trainee deaths
Ranking
- Texas man accused of supporting ISIS charged in federal court
- 'Blue Beetle' is a true-blue surprise
- Five high school students, based all the country, have been named National Student Poets
- Authorities say 4 people dead in shooting at California biker bar
- Travis Kelce's and Patrick Mahomes' Kansas City Houses Burglarized
- Giuliani is expected to turn himself in on Georgia 2020 election indictment charges
- 'Star Wars: Ahsoka' has a Jedi with two light sabers but not much else. Yet.
- Woman, 28, pleads guilty to fatally shoving Broadway singing coach, 87, avoiding long prison stay
Recommendation
-
Inflation ticked up in October, CPI report shows. What happens next with interest rates?
-
Oil production boosts government income in New Mexico, as legislators build savings ‘bridge’
-
Indiana hospital notifies hundreds of patients they may have been exposed to tuberculosis bacteria
-
Larsa Pippen and Marcus Jordan Set the Record Straight on Their Relationship Status
-
Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira set to be sentenced, could get up to 17 years in prison
-
Amber Heard avoids jail time for alleged dog smuggling in Australia after charges dropped
-
Nvidia’s rising star gets even brighter with another stellar quarter propelled by sales of AI chips
-
Kylie Jenner's Itty-Bitty Corset Dress Is Her Riskiest Look Yet