Yemeni Man Receives Life Sentence for Role in Piracy Attack

A 23-year-old man from Yemen was sentenced Friday to life in prison for his role in a February high seas attack that left four Americans dead – including Del Rey Yacht Club members Jean and Scott Adam.

Mounir Ali was sentenced in Norfolk, VA, by U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis. Ali previously had pleaded guilty to a piracy charge in July.

Ali is one of 14 defendants charged with piracy for the February attack of the S/V Quest, a 58-foot yacht that was hijacked in the Indian Ocean with the Adams couple and a Seattle couple, Phyllis Macay and Robert Riggle, aboard. Ali was the only Yemeni among the defendants with the others hailing from Somalia.

According to court documents, Ali was a crew member of another boat that was hijacked by a separate group of pirates several months earlier. He was taken on at least two piracy outings on his captured ship and was with other pirates when they captured a Yemeni fishing boat that was used as a mothership for the Quest hijacking. Ali chose to go with the pirates when they spotted the Quest in exchange for a share of the ransom, according to court documents.

Ali is the seventh defendant of the 11 who have pleaded guilty to be sentenced, including the leader of the pirates who was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.

“Despite being a victim of piracy himself, Mr. Ali voluntarily joined his captors to attack and hold four Americans hostage for ransom,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride in a statement. “The greed for ransom money ultimately led to the cold-blooded murder of the hostages.  Pirates who attack U.S. citizens on the high seas – whether successful or not, whether violent or not – must get the message that they will face lifelong consequences for their actions.”

Three alleged pirates – Ahmed Muse Salad, aka “Afmagalo,” 25; Abukar Osman Beyle, 20; and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar, 29 – have been charged in a 26-count superseding indictment with the kidnapping, hostage-taking and murder of the four Americans. An alleged ransom negotiator, Mohammad Saaili Shibin, 50, of Somalia, also was arrested in Somalia and brought to the United States to face charges.

U.S. warships overtook the pirates after they hijacked the Quest, but negotiations broke down and the four Americans were shot and killed.

Jean and Scott Adam had been members of the Marina del Rey-based Del Rey Yacht Club since 2001. They departed in 2004 on a worldwide sailing voyage that included the distribution of Bibles. A funeral service was held for them in March at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, where Jean used to sing in the church choir.