A Somali native from Minnesota has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his part in holding an American journalist hostage for nearly three years in Somalia.
Abdi Yusuf Hassan was arrested in Minneapolis in 2019 after he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was charged for the 2012 kidnapping of journalist Michael Scott Moore, who spent 977 days in captivity in Somalia, held for ransom by a criminal pirate gang that prosecutors say was led by Hassan.
Along with Hassan, Somali citizen Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed was also convicted in the case at their 2023 trial.
“For nearly three years, Michael Scott Moore was held hostage in Somalia by pirates,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a DOJ statement. “He was beaten, chained to the floor, and threatened with assault rifles and machine guns. Hassan and Mohamed were key players in that hostage taking.”
Moore was released in 2014 after his family paid a $1.6 million ransom.
Hassan and Mohamed were each handed 30-year sentences for their convictions on charges of hostage taking, terrorism and firearm offenses.
During the journalist’s captivity, Hassan served as the Minister of Interior Galmudug province in Somalia. Prosecutors said that Hassan abused his position in the Somali government and played a “significant” role in Moore’s captivity. Prosecutors also said that Hassan’s own home served as a base for the gang’s activities and that he “served as an overall leader of the pirates.”
During the time he was held, Moore was forced to make several proof-of-life videos and was constantly physically abused by his captors.
“Today’s sentences demonstrate our resolve to hold those who take Americans hostage accountable for their crimes,” U.S. Attorney Williams added.
Mohamed’s attorney decried the 30-year sentence, noting that Moore said Mohamed was “kind” to him during the captivity and added that Mohamed was a victim of the “chaos, violence, and turmoil of his homeland,” NBC News reported.
Prosecutors, though, countered that characterization by insisting that “The defendants’ conduct in this case is nothing less than abhorrent.”
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