MOGADISHU, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- A court in the northeastern Somali region of Puntland on Sunday sentenced 12 men to various prison terms after being convicted of piracy activities off the Somali piracy-infested coast.

The judge of the court of first instance in Bossaso, the commercial hub of Puntland, gave eight of the 12 men the prison sentence of eight years each, with the possibility of an appeal against the ruling.

The eight men were handed over to the local authorities by the Egyptian government after they were overpowered by the crew of an Egyptian fishing boat they have been holding hostage for nearly four months off the region.

Two of the pirates were reportedly killed in the struggle in mid August while the rest were taken to Egypt by the crew aboard the boat that was seized last May.

The court also sentenced three years in jail each of the four men accused of an attempted piracy after they were allegedly caught with weapons around the coastal Mareero village outside Bossaso and planning to carry out seajacking.

Judge Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware, who presided over the trials, said the men could lodge an appeal against the court ruling.

The men were expected to appeal against the sentences as they denied all the charges leveled against them

The authorities in the region of Puntland, a hotbed of piracy in Somalia, have carried out similar trials against suspected pirates in the past after some of the international naval forces patrolling the Somali coast handed over some suspected pirates.

The French navy force patrolling the Somali piracy-invested coast this month handed over five suspected pirates to the authorities in Puntland.

Several warships from a number of countries patrol the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden where piracy has been rife for the past years when dozens of commercial ships were abducted but most were released after the payment of hefty ransoms.

Since the start of the restless situation in Somalia in 1991, the coastal areas near the war-torn country and the Gulf of Aden were frequently infested by pirates.