The Tokyo District Court handed down 10-year prison terms Friday to two Somali pirates who stood accused of boarding and trying to hijack a Bahama-registered oil tanker operated by a Japanese company in the Indian Ocean in March 2011.
In what was the first case prosecuted under the 2009 antipiracy law, the point of the unprecedented lay judge trial was whether the court would hand down a prison term, or whether they would give a suspended prison term so the two Somalis would be deported.
The defendants, Mohamed Urgus Adeysey and Abdinur Hussein Ali, who gave their ages as 23 and 38, respectively, admitted the charges.
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