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: Law Blog - WSJ.com

Will Ron Kuby Represent the Accused Somali Pirate?

By Ashby Jones

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kuby Well, this should be interesting.

The lone surviving Somali pirate from the recent hostage-taking episode involving the American ship captain, Richard Phillips, has arrived in New York. He’s slated to be brought to court on Tuesday and charged with hostage-taking and piracy, the first such charges expected to be brought in the U.S. in over a century.

A law enforcement official familiar with the case said the alleged pirate, Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, was being charged under two obscure federal laws that deal with piracy and hostage-taking. Click here for the AP story.

The AP story is early — charges have not yet been announced. But already, some fascinating storylines seem to be emerging.

What happened? Muse’s mother is saying her son was coaxed into piracy by “gangsters with money.” The boy’s father said the pirates lied to his son, telling him they were going to get money. The family is penniless, he said.

How old is Muse? The young pirate’s age and real name remained unclear. His parents said he is only 16; law enforcement said he is at least 18, meaning prosecutors will not have to take extra legal steps to try him in a U.S. court.

Who’s Muse’s lawyer? Muse’s family has asked the Minneapolis-based Somali Justice Advocacy Center to help get him a lawyer, said the organization’s executive director, Omar Jamal. ”What we have is a confused teenager, overnight thrown into the highest level of the criminal justice system in the United States out of a country where there’s no law at all,” Jamal said. Muse speaks no English, he said.

Ron Kuby (pictured), the famed New York-based radio commentator and civil-rights lawyer said he has been in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the Somali suspect. Already, Kuby’s gone on the offensive against the U.S. ”I think in this particular case, there’s a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas. ‘This man seemed to come onto the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age.”

Photo: AP