Somali pirate arrives in NYC, awaits court hearing
By VIRGINIA BYRNE
Associated Press Writer
A Somali teenager arrived to
face what are believed to be the
first piracy charges in the United
States in more than a century,
smiling but saying nothing as he
was led into a federal building
under heavy guard.
Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, the
sole surviving Somali pirate
from the hostage-taking of an
American ship captain, was to
appear in a courtroom Tuesday on
what were expected to be piracy
and hostage-taking charges.
Handcuffed with a chain wrapped
around his waist and about a
dozen federal agents surrounding The boy’s father, Abdiqadir under international law, and his Muse’s worried family asked “I think in this particular
him, the slight teen seemed Muse, said the pirates lied to age could factor into a prison the Minneapolis-based Somali case, there’s a grave question
poised as he passed through the his son, telling him they were sentence if he is convicted. Justice Advocacy Center to as to whether America was in
glare of dozens of news cameras going to get money. The family Experts say international law help get him a lawyer, said the violation of principles of truce
in a drenching rainstorm. His left is penniless, he said. recognizes that people under 18 organization’s executive director, in warfare on the high seas,”
hand was heavily bandaged from “He just went with them without are less mature, and more easily Omar Jamal. said Kuby. “This man seemed to
the wound he suffered during the knowing what he was getting manipulated by adults, the claim “What we have is a confused come onto the Bainbridge under
skirmish on the cargo ship, the into,” Muse said in a separate being put forth by the defendant’s teenager, overnight thrown into a flag of truce to negotiate. He
Maersk Alabama. telephone interview with the AP parents. the highest level of the criminal was then captured. There is a
A law enforcement official through an interpreter. The government has not said justice system in the United question whether he is lawfully
familiar with the case said Muse He also said it was his son’s how it knows the defendant is 18, States out of a country where in American custody and serious
(moo-SAY’) was being charged first outing with the pirates after but verifying his actual age could there’s no law at all,” Jamal said, questions as to whether he can be
under two obscure federal having been taken from his home prove difficult because of the Muse speaks no English, he said, prosecuted because of his age.”
British scientists discover a nearly
By JENNIFER QUINN
Associated Press Writer
In the search for Earth-like
planets, astronomers zeroed in
Tuesday on two places that look
awfully familiar to home. One is
close to the right size. The other
is in the right place.
European researchers said
they not only found the smallest
exoplanet ever, called Gliese 581
e, but realized that a neighboring
planet discovered earlier, Gliese
581 d, was in the prime habitable
zone for potential life.
“The Holy Grail of current
exoplanet research is the
detection of a rocky, Earth
like planet in the ‘habitable
zone,”’ said Michel Mayor,
an astrophysicist at Geneva
University in Switzerland.
An American expert called
the discovery of the tiny planet
“extraordinary.”
Gliese 581 e is only 1.9 times the
size of Earth while previous
planets found outside our solar
system are closer to the size of
massive Jupiter, which NASA
laws that deal with piracy and
hostage-taking. The official
spoke on condition of anonymity
because the charges had not been
announced.
The teenager was flown from
Africa to a New York airport
on the same day that his mother the boy’s parents have said is
appealed to President Barack incorrect. His parents said he
Obama for his release. She said is only 16; law enforcement
her son was coaxed into piracy ' said he is at least 18, meaning
by “gangsters with money.” prosecutors will not have to take
“I appeal to President Obama extra legal steps to try him in a
to pardon my teenager; I request U.S. court,
him to release my son or at least It is extraordinarily rare for the
allow me to see him and be U.S. government to try teenagers
with him during the trial,” Adar with crimes, and the dispute over
Abdirahman Hassan said in a the defendant’s age couldpresent a
telephone interview with The challenge to prosecutors. Experts
Associated Press from her home said that teenage defendants are
in Galkayo town in Somalia. entitled to greater protections
Earth-sized planet
says could swallow more than
1,000 Earths.
Gliese 581 e sits close to the
nearest star, making it too hot
to support life. Still, Mayor said
its discovery in a solar system
20‘A light years away from Earth
is a “good example that we are
progressing in the detection of
Earth-like planets.”
Scientists also discovered that
the orbit of planet Gliese 581 d,
which was found in 2007, was
about a week and a half before
he surrendered at sea to U.S.
officials.
The young pirate’s age and real
name remained unclear.
Court documents list his name
as Abduhl Wali-i-Musi, which
located within the “habitable
zone” a region around a sun
like star that would allow water to
be liquid on the planet’s surface,
Mayor said.
He spoke at a news conference
Tuesday at the University
of Hertfordshire during the
European Week of Astronomy
and Space Science.
Gliese 581 d is probably too
large to be made only of rocky
material, fellow astronomer and
anarchy that has ruled Somalia
for two decades.
Under international law,
prosecutors must show the suspect
belongs in federal court because
the alleged crime would be a
felony if it had been committed
by an adult. They also must show
it was a crime of violence and
weapons were used.
Sandra Jenkins, a lawyer who
has represented juveniles in
federal court in New Orleans,
said she expects the initial battle
over his age will come when
prosecutors claim he’s an adult
and a defense lawyer tries to
convince a judge he’s not. At that
point, the defense would likely
file a motion claiming the court
is without jurisdiction, she said.
team member Stephane Udry
said, adding it was possible the
planet had a “large and deep”
ocean.
“It is the first serious ‘water
world’ candidate,” Udry said.
Mayor’s main planet-hunting
competitor, Geoff Marcy of
the University of California,
Berkeley, praised the find
of Gliese 581 e as “the most
exciting discovery” so far of
exoplanets planets outside our
solar system.
“This discovery is absolutely
extraordinary,” Marcy told
The Associated Press by e
mail, calling the discoveries a
significant step in the search for
Earth-like planets.
While Gliese 581 e is too hot
for life “it shows that nature
makes such small planets,
probably in large numbers,”
Marcy commented. “Surely the
galaxy contains tens of billions
of planets like the small, Earth
mass one announced here.”
Nearly 350 planets have been
found outside our solar system,
but so far nearly every one of
them was found to be extremely
The suspect was taken aboard
a U.S. Navy ship, the USS
Bainbridge, shortly before Navy
SEAL snipers killed three pirates
holding Maersk Alabama Capt.
Richard Phillips, of Underhill,
Vt.
The U.S. officials said the
teenager was brought to New
York to face trial in part because
the FBI office here has a history
of handling cases in Africa
involving major crimes against
Americans, such as the al-Qaida
bombings of two U.S. embassies
in East Africa in 1998.
Ron Kuby, a New York-based
civil rights lawyer, said he
has been in discussions about
forming a legal team to represent
the Somali suspect.
unlikely to harbor life.
Most were too close or too far
from their sun, making them too
hot or too cold for life. Others
were too big and likely to be
uninhabitable gas giants like
Jupiter. Those that are too small
are highly difficult to detect in
the first place.
Both Gliese 581 d and Gliese
581 e are located in constellation
Libra and orbit around Gliese
581.
Like other planets circling that
star—scientists have discovered
four so far Gliese 581 e
was found using the European
Southern Observatory’s telescope
in La Silla, Chile.
The telescope has a special
instrument which splits light
to find wobbles in different
wavelengths. Those wobbles
can reveal the existence of other
worlds.
“It is great work and shows
the potential of this detection
method,” said Lisa Kaltenegger,
an astronomer at the Harvard-
Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics.