US Jury Recommends Life Sentences for Somali Pirates

A U.S. jury recommended Friday that three Somali pirates be sentenced to life in prison in the slayings of four Americans killed aboard their yacht off the coast of Africa. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, but a jury in Norfolk, Virginia, recommended the only other possible sentence for Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle, and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar. Formal sentencing will be this fall. The three men were among 19 who boarded the yacht Quest in February 2011 to try to take the Americans back to Somalia and ransom them for millions of dollars. The plan fell apart when the U.S. Navy began shadowing the sailing vessel. The yacht's owners and their friends were shot to death several days after they were taken hostage at sea