U.S. Attorney MacBride Statement following Decision in U.S. v. hasan et al
NORFOLK, Va. – Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the following statement following the decision by United States District Judge Mark S. Davis to allow the U.S. government to continue its prosecution charging five men from Somalia with piracy:
“We are pleased with the court’s decision and look forward to prosecuting this case in court.”
According to the 14-count superseding indictment returned on July 7, 2010, five men – Mohammed Modin Hasan, Gabul, Abdullahi Ali, Abdi Wali Dire, Abdi Mohammed Gurewardher, and Abdi Mohammed Umar – left Somalia in search of a merchant ship to pirate. They allegedly used two smaller vessels loaded with assault weapons and a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) that served as attack boats, along with a larger ship full of supplies.
Today, the court denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss count one of the indictment, which charged the men of piracy upon the high seas. The court also ruled on a number of other pending pre-trial motions.
The case is scheduled for trial on Nov. 9, 2010.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov.
