Insufficient Evidence Could Force U.S. Navy to Return Suspected Pirates to Somalia

WASHINGTON-Questions emerged Friday about whether the U.S. Navy can continue to hold a group of suspected pirates captured on the high seas and kept for now in floating jail cells ringed with barbed wire.At issue are nine men, probably Somalis, seized Thursday from a small skiff in the Gulf of Aden. A Navy ship fired warning shots and sailors boarded the skiff and arrested the men after a distress call from an Indian-flagged merchant ship.Although defense officials would not be specific, several acknowledged there may insufficient evidence to hold the men for trial and that some or all might be returned to Somalia.If a case can be brought, it would be among the first under a new arrangement with Kenya to take on prosecution of suspected Somali pirates. Somalia has no effective government or recognized court system, and until now foreign navies have been reluctant to detain suspects because of legal uncertainties over where they would face trial."They obviously had some strong suspicions about these individuals and are right now mulling through the evidence they have to determine whether or not they can be prosecuted," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Friday."If there is insufficient evidence to do so, they'll have to make another determination, and that could well be repatriating them." Morrell said the men would not be allowed to keep weapons including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher seized from their boat.For now the group is being held aboard the Lewis and Clark, a U.S. Navy dry cargo and ammunition ship equipped with bare-bones holding cells. Pentagon video footage showed thin black pallets and pillows spread on the floor, surrounded by coils of barbed wire.The nine suspected pirates are the second of two groups seized by the Navy this week off the pirate-infested coast of Somalia.
By AP
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,492784,00.html
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