A Somalian from Minnesota has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for holding an American journalist hostage in Somalia for nearly three years.
Abdi Yusuf Hassan was arrested in Minneapolis in 2019 after becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States. He was charged with kidnapping journalist Michael Scott Moore, who was held captive in Somalia for 977 days in 2012, and prosecutors said a gang of criminal pirates led by Hassan demanded a ransom.
Along with Hassan, Somali national Mohamed Talil Mohamed was also convicted at a trial in 2023.
“Michael Scott Moore was held hostage by pirates in Somalia for nearly three years,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams told the Justice Department. statement. “He was beaten, chained to the floor and threatened with assault rifles and machine guns. Hassan and Mohamed were central figures in the hostage situation.”
Moore was released in 2014 after his family paid a $1.6 million ransom.
Hassan and Mohamed were each found guilty of hostage-taking, terrorism and firearms offenses and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
While the journalists were detained, Hassan was serving as interior minister for Somalia's Galmudug province. Prosecutors said Hassan abused his position within Somalia's government and played a “significant” role in Moore's imprisonment. Prosecutors also said Hassan's home was the gang's base of operations and that Hassan “acted as the overall leader of the pirates.”
While in custody, Moore was forced to record several videos of evidence and was constantly physically abused by his captors.
U.S. Attorney Williams added, “Today's sentence demonstrates our determination to hold those who took Americans hostage accountable for their crimes.”
Mohammed's lawyer shouted NBC News reported that Moore sentenced Mohamed to 30 years in prison, saying he had been “kind” to Mohamed while incarcerated and adding that Mohamed was a victim of “chaos, violence and mayhem in his homeland.” .
However, the prosecution disputed that characterization, arguing that “the defendant's actions in this case were nothing short of abhorrent.''
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