Somali pirates prove problem for Dutch

RNW, 4 April 2011, by Johan Huizinga

(Photo: Dutch defence ministry)

The arrest of 16 Somali pirates by Dutch naval personnel could land Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal with a problem. The pirates had hijacked an Iranian fishing boat. Two of them were killed in an operation involving Dutch frigate HNLMS Tromp and the others were taken prisoner. The obvious thing would be to extradite them to Iran but that looks more or less impossible.

It could have been a perfect chance for Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to improve Dutch-Iranian relations - which hit an all-time low in January with the execution in Tehran of the Dutch-Iranian woman Zahra Bahrami. However, it looks like the pirates are more likely to be the cause of yet more problems for Mr Rosenthal.

Under international law, any country can try pirates. In practice, however, it’s usual that detainees are brought to justice either in the victims’ country – in this case Iran – or in the country of those who arrested them.

Kenya and the Seychelles

Another possibility is that the pirates are prosecuted in a country in the region with which special agreements have been made. Kenya and the Seychelles have such agreements with the European Union and NATO, which are in charge of the operations to protect shipping in the region from Somali pirates.

Bibi van Ginkel from the Clingendael Institute thinks that, even if Mr Rosenthal wanted to extradite the pirates to Iran as a gesture of goodwill, this could prove very difficult. The government in The Hague would first have to make sure that the prisoners would be treated in accordance with the rules.

“What sort of treatment might the prisoners expect? What sort of cells would they be held in? Do they run the risk of being tortured, and could they end up facing the death penalty? The Netherlands is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights and The Hague is therefore committed to ensuring that such things couldn’t happen before handing over any suspects to another country.”

Extradition?

Dr Van Ginkel says Mr Rosenthal has to refuse to extradite the pirates if there are indications that Iran would treat them harshly. The minister will have to hope that Iran does not request their extradition, because a Dutch refusal might well constitute another blow to relations with Tehran.

Trials in Kenya or the Seychelles are just as unlikely as these countries say they can’t deal with any more pirates. A Dutch trial looks like being the only available option, although the Netherlands is probably also not too keen on taking on the task. Setting the pirates free, as has happened in the past, is no longer acceptable.

Piracy more ruthless

The questions remains whether Somali pirates, following the death of two of their number, will now start to target Dutch shipping. Jeroen Kuiper of Marine AON Risk Services doesn’t think this will happen. Retaliation by Somali pirates seems even less likely given the Dutch government's latest decision to deploy marines to protect Dutch merchant vessels.

Marco Wiesenhaan from the EVO shipping organisation believes Somali pirates are becoming more ruthless.

“Piracy is becoming increasingly criminal. It appears that international criminal organisations are becoming involved. In the past, it used to be more a way of getting by for ordinary Somalis.”

Private security firms?

Mr Wiesenhaan does not favour private security staff onboard merchant ships:

“That would mean there would be no control by parliament which of course oversees the operations of military personnel. You might provoke even more violence … The deployment of marines on the most vulnerable ships, that gets my vote.”

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Dutch MPs agree to troops on merchant ships

RNW, 23 March 2011

The Dutch parliament has agreed to deploy Dutch troops on board a number of Dutch merchant ships to protect them against piracy in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. The only party to vote against the measure was the Socialist Party, which said too many things about the mission were unclear.

The first Dutch sailors will embark in the Indian city of Mumbai on Wednesday. Thirty sailors will join two tow boats sailing under the Dutch flag and a crane ship sailing under the Panamanian flag. The convoy will sail to the United Arab Emirates. Later this month 20 other sailors will sail with a Dutch ship sailing from China to the Netherlands - the troops will join the ship for 22 days at Singapore and disembark in the Republic Djibouti on the Horn of Africa.

The operation will cost 1 million euros altogether and the costs will be shared between the Ministry of Defence and the shipping companies. Most of the costs will be for the ministry as it covers the costs of transporting troop and military hardware. The cabinet has promised to take another look at how the costs are divided as MPs are reluctant to approve such high spending.

Defence Minister Hans Hillen expects this kind of operation to be an exception rather than the rule. The minister declined to say what material will be on board to prevent attacks by pirates. This is the first time military personnel will be on board merchant ships to protect them for piracy.

Dutch submarine to tackle piracy

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 22 June 2010 - 10:20am

(Photo: Dutch Defence Ministry)

The Netherlands have agreed to a NATO request for a submarine to help fight piracy in the Indian Ocean. Outgoing Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop, visiting a Dutch Navy patrol in the Gulf of Aden. The Netherlands are participating in Atalanta, a European Union operation to prevent merchant ships being hijacked by Somali pirates.

The Dutch submarine will join a NATO flotilla in late September, and contribute to the organisation's Ocean Shield anti-piracy mission until December. The submarine carries sensitive sound scanners which will be helpful in gathering information about the pirates. The cost of using the submarine, estimated at 2.3 million euros, will be carried by the Dutch Foreign Office.

BBC News

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Dutch court jails five Somali pirates for five years

Dutch court jails five Somali pirates for five years

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 17 June 2010 - 3:08pm

A Dutch court on Thursday sentenced five Somali pirates, the first to stand trial in Europe, to five years in prison for attacking a Dutch Antilles-flagged ship in 2009.

"The court sentences the defendants to a prison sentence of five years," said court president Jan Willem Klein Wolterink.

The five men aged between 25 and 45 all pleaded not guilty on the first day of their trial in Rotterdam in the west of the Netherlands on May 25.

They told the court they were simple fishermen who were attacked as they sought help from the Turkish ship, the Samanyolu, after developing engine trouble and running out of food and water at sea.

But prosecutors said they were arrested after attacking the ship with automatic weapons and rockets on January 2, 2009.

The five were convicted for seeking to hijack a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden

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Trial of alleged Somali pirates opens in Netherlands

BBC News, 9:46 GMT, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 10:46 UK

The five men are accused of seeking to hijack a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden

The first European trial of alleged Somali pirates has opened in the Netherlands.

Five men are accused of seeking to hijack a cargo ship registered in the Netherlands Antilles. They face up to 12 years in prison.

They were arrested in the Gulf of Aden last year when their high-speed boat was intercepted by a Danish patrol vessel.

Pirates attempted more than 200 attacks off the Somali coast in 2009.

Worldwide, there were an estimated 400 pirate attacks.

Many of the suspects arrested in military operations in the Gulf of Aden in recent years have had to be set free for lack of evidence.

This trial, which is taking place at the Rotterdam District Court in the Netherlands, is expected to last five days, and the judgement is expected to be handed down in the middle of next month.

Last Tuesday, a Yemeni court sentenced six Somali pirates to death and jailed six others for 10 years each for hijacking a Yemeni oil tanker and killing two cabin crew in April last year.

Also last Tuesday, another Somali, Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, pleaded guilty in a New York court to seizing a US ship and kidnapping its captain last year. He faces a minimum of 27 years in prison, and is expected to be sentenced in October.

Muse is the only surviving attacker of the Maersk Alabama merchant ship off Somalia's coast in April 2009.

Justice system

The five men being tried in Rotterdam were arrested in January last year after their high-speed boat with firearms was intercepted by a Danish frigate, as they were allegedly preparing to board the cargo ship Samanyolu, which was registered in the Caribbean.

The Netherlands issued European arrest warrants for the five men. They were flown on a military plane from the Gulf state of Bahrain to the Netherlands, where they have been in custody since.

The men's lawyers say they will challenge the jurisdiction of Dutch courts to try the case because the cargo vessel was under the flag of the Netherlands Antilles, which has its own justice system.

They will also argue that the men are poor fishermen, who acted out of despair.

But the prosecution says it is intent on defending the interests of the ships and their crews who were shot at and held hostage by pirates.

Somali pirates have become a serious threat to international sea transport. Photo AP

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Dutch court looks at 'child pirate' case

NRC International, By Mark Schenkel, 20 May 2010 15:25

Dutch marines seen here arresting the seven pirates in the Indian Ocean. Photo Dutch defence department

Child soldiers are a well-known phenomenon. But the child pirate is a relative newcomer amongst underage combatants.

Germany has asked the Netherlands to hand over ten Somali pirates who were captured by Dutch marines on April 5. The Somalis had taken control of the German freighter Taipan, until they were arrested and taken on the Dutch frigate HMS Tromp. The Hamburg prosecutor's office intends to file criminal charges against the pirates, but an Amsterdam court will first decide whether the Somalis, still imprisoned in the Netherlands, can be sent to Germany. A potentially complicating factor is that one of the pirates is underage.

"My client has been subjected to X-ray testing at Leiden University Medical Centre to determine his age," said lawyer Robert Malewicz. "The results show he is 14 or 15." The X-ray test was carried out at the request of the German authorities, who had been told that the suspect was "obviously only a kid" said Malewicz. The lawyer expressed doubts his client had become a pirate out of free will.

Under German law, children from the age of 14 can face criminal charges. In principle, the Somali boy could be sent to Germany, as the minimal age for handing over to other European countries on request is 12 years in the Netherlands. Malewicz claims this case is not as simple as it may first seem though. According to the lawyer, the boy himself claims to be 13, meaning that the Dutch could hand him over to Germany, but it would still be impossible to prosecute him there. The reliability of X-ray testing to determine children's age has also been called into question.

"With 14-year-old boys you should take into account a margin of 18 months in either direction," said Simon Robben, a paediatric radiologist at Maastricht's academic hospital. "The Somali boy could well be 13."

An X-ray scanner can be used to determine the age of children by examining their hands. "Hands have a lot of bones and therefore a lot of growth plates, which means you can gather a lot of data," said Robben. "But some variety exists in growing children. That margin depends on biological factors, nutrition and disease. If you were to scan the hands of a class full of 14-year-olds, some would have bone structures common to 15-year-olds, others would resemble 13-year-olds. X-ray studies are not a hard science."

It is unlikely the Amsterdam district court will take these lingering doubts into account. The judge will only consider the validity of the German request, and will not look at the merits of the case against the Somalis. These types of requests have almost unfailingly been honoured in the past. "It would then be up to a German judge to determine the Somali boy's real age," a Dutch lawyer familiar with immigration law said. "If it turns out he is 13, the German judge could decide to drop the case, leaving him free to go home or apply for asylum."

If the Somali boy is not handed over to Germany for whatever reason, Dutch authorities could decide to prosecute him themselves. But that can only be decided after the Amsterdam district court's verdict, which is scheduled for June 4.

Somali pirates in custody in the Netherlands

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 15 April 2010 - 12:30pm

The ten Somali pirates who were arrested last week by sailors from the Dutch frigate HMS Tromp have arrived in the Netherlands. They were flown to Eindhoven in an air force plane from Djibouti.

The pirates hijacked a German merchant ship off the Somali coast on Monday of last week. The Dutch sailors managed to detain them after a gun battle. None of the ship's crew was hurt in the fighting.

The German government plans to prosecute the pirates who will remain in custody in the Netherlands until they can be extradited to Germany.

The HMS Johan de Witt, the Dutch navy's largest transport ship, is sailing to Somali waters to join the European anti-piracy mission on Saturday. It will replace HMS Tromp, which should be back home in the Netherlands on 30 April.

The European Union's Operation Atalanta is designed to protect cargo and food aid vessels from pirates operating out of Somalia. It acts as a deterrent, disrupting the pirates' operations. However, on prior occasions, the Dutch navy has been forced to release captured pirates because no country could be found to try them.

Dutch caretaker Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and caretaker Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop have voiced delight at the German decision to prosecute the pirates.

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Germany to try Somali pirates on Dutch warship

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 9 April 2010 - 7:22pm

HMS Tromp (Photo: ANP)

Germany is going to try ten pirates captured by a Dutch frigate off Somalia's coast on Monday.

The pirates had seized a German cargo ship. It was rescued by Dutch marines after an exchange of fire.

The justice and foreign ministries say that the German judicial authorities in Hamburg have agreed to prosecute the detainees. Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop have voiced delight at the German co-operation.

On prior occasions, the Dutch frigate, HMS Tromp, was forced to release the captured pirates because no country could be found to try them.

According to the defence ministry, one of the detained pirates had been captured previously by the Dutch warship.

The Dutch helicopter was deployed after crew on the MV Taipan issued a distress alert. Marines board the German vessel MV Taipan where 10 armed pirates were waiting on board. After arresting the pirates the commandos freed the crew of 15 people, who were locked away.
(Daily Mail)

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The moment armed marines abseiled onto a hijacked ship before rescuing its crew from pirates

Daily Mail, by MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE, 2:06 PM on 06th April 2010

Guns at the ready, six Navy commandos abseil from a helicopter onto the deck of a ship as they prepare to come face to face with the armed pirates hiding on board.

These pictures capture the precarious moment the Dutch marines boarded the German merchant ship, the MV Taipan, not knowing the risks that awaited them.

Minutes later they arrested the pirates and freed the ship's 15-strong crew.

Risky: Marines board the German vessel MV Taipan where 10 armed pirates were waiting on board

Hijacked: After arresting the pirates the commandos freed the crew of 15 people, who were locked away

The ten pirates had boarded the container ship - as it sat 500 miles east of Somalia - using a mothership and two attack boats.

Within hours the Dutch frigate Tromp had deployed its Lynx helicopter to the scene, after receiving a distress signal from the Taipan.

As the Tromp neared the hijacked vessel it fired warning shots and sounded alerts, sending the mothership fleeing.

After using a rope to board the ship, the marines turned off the engines and overpowered the pirates while alerting warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden.

Rescue: The Dutch helicopter was deployed after crew on the MV Taipan issued a distress alert

Brave: The marines boarded the ship, turned off engines and overpowered the pirates while alerting warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden

The German ship's crew members had locked themselves into a secure area and were unharmed. One Dutch marine was slightly injured during boarding but no one else was hurt.

The pirates were taken on board the Tromp but German Defence Ministry spokesman Robin Middel said it was not known what would be done with them. He would not reveal their nationality.

The Dutch navy launched the operation as part of an EU naval mission called Operation Atalanta which protects shipping along the key route off Somalia.

In March alone the mission captured 18 pirate gangs, destroyed 22 skiffs and apprehended 131 pirates for prosecution.

But there are still eight vessels and 157 hostages in the hands of Somali pirates.

The Taipan ship was able to continue its voyage after despite damage to its bridge, according to a statement from the Defence Ministry.