The Negotiator Ashore

Pirates seized a German merchant ship on the high seas and took it into Somali waters. Prosecutors said a man on land then boarded the captured ship, ran the ransom talks and extracted a $5 million ransom, which was air-dropped before the ship was released, and that he took part in torturing the crew. They said that months later pirates who seized an American sailing yacht named him as their negotiator; the four Americans aboard were shot and killed during the standoff. He was seized ashore and brought to the United States against his will. The defence argued that he never acted on the high seas himself, so he could not be guilty of piracy, and that the court lacked jurisdiction over a man brought there by force.