Spain seeks solution to Somali piracy drama (Roundup)

Nov 10, 2009, 12:42 GMT

Madrid - Spain on Tuesday continued efforts to resolve a piracy drama off Somalia, where pirates holding 36 fishermen are demanding the release of two of their accomplices who were captured and flown to Madrid for trial.

A lawyer representing one of the two detainees proposed that Spain expel them to Somalia, saying that would make it possible to resolve the crisis within three days.

Francisco Javier Diaz Aparicio said he would make the proposal to Santiago Pedraz, the National Court judge in charge of the two suspects.

The Basque trawler Alakrana has been held by pirates for 40 days off the Somali coast.

The Spanish government is assisting the owner of the vessel in negotiations with the pirates, who not only demand a ransom of several million dollars, but also the release of two of their companions.

The two, who are known as Abdou Willy and Raagegeesey, were captured by a Spanish frigate when they left the Alakrana two days after the hijacking.

The frigate was taking part in international anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean.

Abdou Willy and Raagegeesey were then flown to Spain for interrogation and trial.

The pirates have threatened to start killing the fishermen unless the two are released and brought back to Somalia.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government was looking for a legal way of returning the two suspects to Somalia, but wanted them to be brought to trial in the Horn of Africa country, Spanish media reported.

However, it would be difficult and time-consuming to organize their extradition to Somalia, which has no firm central government, Abdou Willy's lawyer Diaz Aparicio argued.

Diaz Aparicio said his client and Raagegeesey could simply be expelled to Somalia, because they were accomplices rather than main suspects in the hijacking of the Alakrana and would not face prison terms of more than 16 years in Spain.

Judicial sources, however, said the charges against the two might be too heavy for Spain to expel them.

Third Deputy Prime Minister Manuel Chaves said the government was doing 'all it can within a state of law' to free the crew of the Alakrana.

Pressure has mounted on the Spanish government to obtain the release of the fishermen, who have complained that the pirates kicked them and spit on them while the vessel was running out of food and water.

Demonstrations have been held in Spain to demand the release of the fishermen. The group includes 16 Spaniards, as well as Africans and Asians.

Zapatero was due to receive the families of the fishermen later on Tuesday to inform them about the measures taken by the government.