US dropping case against man accused of piracy
Source: AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are dropping their case against a Somali translator accused of being a pirate and playing an illegal role in the hostage siege aboard a Danish merchant ship off the coast of Somalia in 2008.
A jury last month deadlocked on two charges of hostage-taking against Ali Mohamed Ali. He had been found not guilty of the more serious charge of piracy, and the Justice Department decided to seek retrial on the charges on which the jury couldn't reach a verdict.
Ali's attorney Matthew J. Peed, objected to a retrial, arguing that if the refiled charges relied on the same basic facts, then Ali was being subjected to double jeopardy. The argument was based on the Supreme Court decision resulting from the case Yeager v. U.S.
On Saturday, the office of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said it had reviewed the case and agreed that prosecutors were obligated to dismiss the remaining charges against Ali.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-dropping-case-against-man-accused-piracy
