In his appeal, Beyle argued that, under a 1972 law, Somali territorial waters extended 200nm from the shore. Because the incident took place within Somalia’s jurisdiction, the US courts were ineligible to try him, Beyle maintained.
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High seas ruling sinks pirate pair’s appeal

Somalia’s exclusive economic zone counts as the high seas for the purposes of piracy law.

That was the conclusion reached in last week’s appeal by Abukar Osman Beyle and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar against their August 2013 conviction for piracy.

The pair were handed multiple life sentences by a court in Virginia, USA, for their part in the murder of four US citizens, who were seized aboard their yacht, Quest, by a Somali pirate gang on 18 February 2011. The 14 pirates planned to abduct the Americans and hold them for ransom on land but were intercepted by guided missile destroyer USS Sterett.

Four days later, when it became obvious that their plan had been foiled, Beyle, Abrar and Ahmed Muse Salad shot the hostages. The murders occurred about 30 40nm from the coast of Somalia.

The jury found Salad, Beyle and Abrar guilty on 26 counts of murder, kidnapping, piracy and possession of firearms. Each received three concurrent life sentences, 18 back-to-back life sentences and 30 years in jail.

In his appeal, Beyle argued that, under a 1972 law, Somali territorial waters extended 200nm from the shore. Because the incident took place within Somalia’s jurisdiction, the US courts were ineligible to try him, Beyle maintained.

Courthouse News Service noted that the pirate based his argument on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which refers to an exclusive economic zone extending “beyond a nation’s territorial sea but within two hundred nautical miles of the coastal baseline”.

US Circuit Judge J Harvie Wilkinson III rejected the plea, saying, “almost all of the treaty’s high-seas provisions apply with equal force inside the EEZ as they do outside it”. He reiterated the US position that a country’s territorial waters extend only to 12nm from the shore. Maritime areas beyond this 12nm limit are counted as “the high seas” and susceptible to international jurisdiction for the purposes of piracy prosecution.

The limits of a state’s jurisdiction over the contiguous zone (12 24nm from the shore) and its EEZ have been hotly debated in India with respect to the Enrica Lexie and Seaman Guard Ohio cases.

To contact the author of this article, email Maritime360@ihs.com

Source: http://www.ihsmaritime360.com/article/17449/high-seas-ruling-sinks-pirate-pair-s-appeal