By Jite Eriabie
Six alleged Somali pirates who are currently jailed inside a prison at the Yemen capital, San’a have appealed for help from the Somali government.
Yemen navy arrested the alleged pirates off the coast of Yemen in 2009 and were detained at a prison in Mukala. A Yemeni court later sentenced them to death and were transferred to San’a, the capital, before Houthi rebels took over the city.
“Yemen court sentenced us to death, but fortunately, the Huuthis took over the city, though we are still in Jail.” Abdirisak Mohamed Mohamoud Irbad, said. “We need help from the government of Somalia to get us out of this jail.”
According to Abdirisak, the Houthii rebels who are in control of the Yemen capital San’a have demanded that their government should come for their release.
When asked how they got access to internet and phones inside the jail, Abdirisak said that, “the Houthis allowed them to have phones inside the jail.”
The prisoners were identified as Abshir Salad Ahmed, Barkhad Ise Ali, Abdirisak Mohamed Mohamoud “Irbad”, Abdirashid Yusuf Abdullahi, Abdinasir Aws Mohamed Abdillahi and Farhan Mohamed Jama.
These prisoners have accused the former Somalia ambassador to Yemen, who they identified as Osman Mohamed, for asking for money from each of them to facilitate their release from prison.
Somali government have recently gone into agreement with prisoner swap with several countries among them India and Ethiopia.
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