By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
After decades of seeing pirates portrayed in Hollywood as sword waving, one eye-patched, mythical figures, America has gotten a real life glimpse of the 21st Century Pirate. And he’s not nearly as suave.
Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, a Somali pirate, pleaded guilty Tuesday in a Manhattan federal court to leading the attack on the U.S. vessel Maersk Alabama about 350 miles off the coast of Somali in April 2009. He also pleaded guilty to the hijacking of two other vessels in March and April of last year.
In the case of the Maersk Alabama, authorities alleged that he and a group of pirates boarded the ship and then took Capt. Richard Phillips hostage on a life boat.
CNN reported that he apologized through an interpreter during court proceedings.
“What we did was wrong. I am very sorry for all of this,” Muse said, according to CNN. “All of this happened because of the government in Somalia.”
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara issued a statement after the guilty plea, saying:
“Today, Abduwali Abdukhadir Musé admitted his leadership role in the armed hijacking of an American-flagged vessel and two international ships in the Indian Ocean. The five-day Maersk hijacking and the events leading up to it make clear that modern-day piracy is a crime against the international community and a form of terrorism on the high seas.”
