May 21, 2009 11:44 am US/Eastern
Teen Somali Piracy Suspect Pleads Not Guilty
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse (right) who allegedly is involved in the hostage-taking of U.S. commercial ship captain Richard Phillips, is led into Federal Plaza by Federal agents April 20, 2009, in New York City.
Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
A Somali teenager accused of leading a group of pirates in an attack on an American cargo ship has pleaded not guilty to charges in an indictment.
The plea was entered Thursday in Manhattan federal court by Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse.
Authorities say he was the only pirate to survive the attack that led to his April 12 capture.
He faces 10 counts including piracy under the law of nations, conspiracy, hostage taking and kidnapping.
Authorities say Muse led a band of pirates that attacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama on April 8.
Muse has been jailed in Manhattan since his capture on April 12. U.S. prosecutors have portrayed him as the ringleader of the band of pirates.
The FBI says Muse was the first pirate to board the boat as it was about 280 miles off the Somali coast. He and others held the captain hostage until Navy sharpshooters killed three other suspects.
The 18-year-old Muse wept when his lawyers failed last month to convince a federal judge he was only 15 and should be tried as a juvenile.
CBS 2 HD asked one of his court-appointed attorneys what he saw when he looked at his new client.
"A young scared kid in pain," attorney Phil Weiss said. "I don't know whether he's a pirate or not. You asked me what I saw, that's what I saw."
FBI agent Steven Sorrell testified during hearings, though, that Muse was the first pirate to board the attacked cargo ship.
"From the deck of the Maersk Alabama," he wrote, "Muse fired his gun at the captain who was still on the bridge." The young man, he said, "conducted himself as the leader of the pirates."
Muse was conducting negotiations on a navy ship when three sharpshooters killed the others holding Capt. Richard Phillips hostage on a lifeboat.
In addition to piracy, Muse was charged with conspiracy to seize a ship by force; discharging a firearm; aiding and abetting the discharge of a firearm during a conspiracy to seize a ship by force; conspiracy to commit hostage taking; and brandishing a firearm.
So whether he's 16 or 18 or older, Muse is staring a life in prison if convicted.
Questions of age aside, the defense is now focusing on mitigating circumstances that might have lead up to the Maersk Alabama drama, insisting that like the captain and crew of the ship the suspect is a victim of the chaos in Somalia.
It's the lawless land of warlords, gangs and searing poverty mad infamous in "Blackhawk Down." Muse's mother told The Associated Press by phone that her son was pressured into becoming a pirate which could offer some legal insulation for him.
"Somalia is at war and if he was himself taken hostage by pirates or any of his actions had to do with he himself taken kidnapped and taken hostage then he would be subject to those protections," defense attorney Dierdre Von Dornum said.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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