Somali pirates face death penalty

Three Somali pirates charged in the February 2011 deaths of four Americans could face the death penalty, in a move that may discourage others.

Somali pirates will face death penalty in federal trial in Virginia

For two days, the four Americans held aboard their yacht by Somali pirates had been shadowed in the Indian Ocean by a U.S. aircraft carrier, two guided-missile destroyers and a cruiser. The U.S. military and FBI agents wanted to negotiate; the pirates wanted to reach land.

When one of the destroyers neared the 58-foot sailing boat, gunfire erupted. By the time Navy SEALs reached the Quest, the four Americans had been fatally shot — the first time U.S. citizens were killed in a wave of piracy that has rippled out from the coast of Somalia in recent years.

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Source: The Washington Post.