Court orders death sentences for six Somali pirates
| SAN'A, Yemen
A Yemeni security court has convicted six Somalis for piracy and sentenced them to death for seizing an oil tanker.
Six other convicted pirates received 10 year prison sentences on Tuesday and the pirates they must together pay $2 million compensation to the Aden refinery company, which owns the tanker.
Yemeni coast guard forces freed the Yemeni oil tanker Qana in April last year shortly after it was attacked and hijacked by the pirates.
The tanker was among four vessels sailing between the southern Yemeni ports of Mukalla and Aden under escort by a Yemeni coast guard boat. The other vessels escaped the attack.
Three pirates and two crewmen died and four others were injured in the operation.
Defense lawyers have appealed the verdict.
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