Two Somali pirates sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping American journalist Michael Scott Moore and held him hostage for 977 days, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Moore, a freelance journalist, traveled to Somalia in 2012 to study piracy and the country’s economy. On January 21, he was kidnapped by several heavily armed men and transported to an isolated area, where he was held captive with two Seychellois fishermen. Moore was moved several times over three months, then transported to a hijacked ship, the F/V Naham III. Moore and one of the fishermen were held captive there, along with 28 crew members, for several more months, according to the Ministry of Justice. The fisherman was tortured and crew members told Moore that the pirates had killed the ship’s captain when they hijacked the ship, prosecutors said.
Moore remained hostage for two more years, continually moving between shelters, kept under armed guard and chained at night to prevent escape, prosecutors said. He was threatened several times, according to the Justice Department, and forced to make proof-of-life videos demanding the payment of large ransoms. In 2014, the negotiators paid a ransom of $1.6 million to secure Moore’s release. Moore said his family financed the ransom payment and published a book about his experience in 2018.
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Abdi Yusef Hassan, 56, and Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed, 43, each “played a significant role in Moore’s captivity,” according to the Justice Department, and were sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Hassan, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Mogadishu, Somalia, served as interior minister in the Somali province where Moore was captured. This meant he was responsible for the police and security forces, but also “served as the overall leader of the pirates,” according to the Justice Department. He “led their efforts to extort a massive ransom from Moore’s aging mother,” the department said, and directed the production of the proof-of-life videos and participated in the ransom negotiations. He also used his home as a base of operations for the hackers, the Justice Department said. He was arrested in Minneapolis in 2019.
Tahlil, also from Mogadishu, served in the national army and was the supervisor of the pirates who guarded Moore during the first months of his captivity. He used his military position, training and experience “to serve as the pirates’ chief of security and armorer,” according to the Justice Department, and was responsible for moving Moore from location to location. He also supplied and repaired the weapons used to keep Moore captive. Tahlil was imprisoned in New York in 2018.
The two men were convicted of hostage-taking, terrorism and firearms offenses after a three-week trial in February 2023. They were sentenced on Tuesday. The Justice Department has not provided details on where they will serve their sentences.
Each was also sentenced to one day of supervised release, in addition to the prison sentence.