20101106
africanews

A Kenyan court has released 17 Somali suspected pirates captured by the US Navy last year and accused of piracy.

Sources say the magistrate’s court in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa had insufficient evidence against the suspected men.

American forces detained these men in the Gulf of Aden in 2009 and indicted of attempting to attack the commercial ship MV amira which was travelling to Egypt.

More than 100 suspected Somali pirates are being held in Kenyan prisons. Many have been convicted and sentenced to prison.

There is no standard agreement on what to do with captured pirates. Some have been sent to Kenya or European countries for trial, while others have been released at sea.

Somali pirates have accustomed to hijack of vessels on the Indian Ocean water.

Since the last central government of Somalia was overthrown by warlords Somalia’s pirates has rapidly increased.