Dormit secure, cui non est functio curae

As predicted Somali pirate lawfare has begun. Perhaps the reason shipping companies and governments are all too happy to allow these pirates to collect ransoms is that it is cheaper than fighting them in court.

Somali 'pirate' suing
Germany
14 April 2009, 22:52 CET
(BERLIN) - A Somali suspected
pirate filed a lawsuit against Germany Tuesday for what he called his inhumane
treatment since being handed over to Kenyan authorities, court documents said.

The German navy patrolling the Gulf of Aden captured the plaintiff,
identified as Ali Mohamed A.D., last month when he allegedly tried to seize a
freighter, the MV Courier.

He was transferred to Kenya along with eight
other Somali suspects for prosecution in the port city of Mombasa under an EU
agreement with the east African country.

The plaintiff's lawyer Oliver
Wallasch said his client was seeking 10,000 euros (13,300 dollars) from the
German government before the Berlin regional court for damages incurred after
his "unlawful" transfer to Kenya.

Drum head court marshals on the deck of a naval ship and, if convicted of piracy, then a firing squad or hanging and burial at sea should be their fate.