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Sailors Defend Pirate Suspects Treatment
September 10, 2010
Virginian-Pilot

NORFOLK -- A group of Somali nationals captured in an alleged pirate attack on the frigate Nicholas were held for days almost constantly in handcuffs, often blindfolded, made to wear Navy-issued "poopy suits" and forced to sleep outside, officers testified Thursday.

But the conditions of the five Somalis met the humane requirements under the Geneva Conventions, as well as Navy policy, Lt. j.g. Chad Hutchins and other junior officers testified in U.S. District Court at a hearing on pre-trial motions.

The five Somalis are charged with piracy and related counts in the April 1 attack on the Nicholas in the Indian Ocean off the Somalia coast.

Their attorneys are arguing before District Judge Mark S. Davis that the Navy violated the Somalis' Miranda and other constitutional rights after their capture. They are seeking to have incriminating statements thrown out before the start of their Nov. 9 trial.

The Somalis say the Sailors threatened to feed them to sharks, held them in painful positions, and physically and verbally abused them, all charges that Hutchins and several other Sailors denied on the stand Thursday.

The Somalis are also challenging the basis for the piracy charge itself, as well as the related counts. Another judge in the same court has already thrown out a piracy charge against a separate group of Somalis charged in the April 10 attack on the Ashland in the same region.

The Somalis in the Nicholas case were taken into custody after one of them fired several AK-47 rounds at the ship just after midnight on April 1. The government alleges that the group was trying to take control of the Navy vessel, thinking it was a merchant ship.

After being captured, defendant Abdi Mohammed Gurewardher seemed eager to talk and was proud of his actions, Hutchins testified. It took a day to get an interpreter on the phone but once they did, Gurewardher confessed, he said.

Gurewardher told them "they were pirates out there doing pirate things," Hutchins said. As a reward, he was given an orange and some juice, the officer said.

Hutchins said his job in those ensuing days was to "make sure while they were on board they were treated humanely."

The judge will have to decide whether the treatment met legal standards.

The defense attorneys made much of the conditions and treatment, eliciting testimony from the Sailors that the Somalis were initially strip-searched, almost continuously handcuffed, sometimes to a railing, blindfolded whenever they had to be moved, made to sleep outdoors under the weather deck, first on mats and then on cots, forced to urinate overboard and defecate in buckets, and were given a hose, a bar of soap and a rag to bathe with every other day.

Hutchins described the so-called "poopy suits" issued to the Somalis as white jumpsuits Sailors wear when cleaning up sewage.

The Sailors also testified that they went out of their way to make the Somalis as comfortable as they could. They recovered five prayer mats from one of the two boats the Somalis used and allowed them to pray five times a day, as their Muslim faith requires. They also made sure their meals met the requirements of their faith.

They gave them cigarettes whenever they wanted them, a constant supply of water, and allowed them to exercise, without handcuffs, three times a day, even teaching them how to do calisthenics, Hutchins said. They were given medical checkups and treated for any ailments that arose.

Rolando E. Roblesnavarro, a petty officer 1st class who supervised the detainees, said his main concern was the Somalis' comfort and safety.

"Did you ever witness any harsh treatment of any detainee?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph E. DePadilla asked him.

"No," Roblesnavarro replied.

The hearing continues today in U.S. District Court.