Mauritius Officially On Board to Prosecute as Other Options Dwindle

Beau Bassin Prison in Mauritius where pirate suspects may be detained

Reuters is reporting that Mauritius has inked a deal with the TFG, Somaliland and Puntland to start to transfer convicted pirates to Somali prisons, paving the way for prosecutions in Mauritius. This comes as the locations proposed for prosecution by the UN Secretary General have dwindled. In January, the UN Secretary General issued a report noting Somaliland and Puntland as suitable locations for the prosecution of pirates. It is becoming increasingly clear that these autonomous regions may have difficulty in laying the foundations necessary for fair trials in the foreseeable future. For example, last week a Somaliland military court abruptly sentenced 17 civilians to death the day after violent clashes in the northern city of Hargeisa, leading a UN special envoy to urge a retrial in which the fair trial rights of the Accused would be respected. Therefore, the focus will have to shift to the remaining states recommended by Secretary General (i.e. Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, and Mauritius). As one of only four states in the region deemed suitable for prosecutions, the Mauritius announcement is undoubtedly appreciated by the states patrolling high risk areas who are searching for states willing to prosecute pirates.

As to the trio of other states identified in the UNSG report, Kenya is moving forward with prosecutions in the High Court in Mombasa, despite a 2010 decision by Judge Ibrahim (now of the Kenyan Supreme Court) holding that Kenyan courts lack jurisdiction to try the crime of piracy. Judge Ibrahim’s decision is pending an appellate decision by the Kenyan Court of Appeal.  But in the interim, his decision is not binding authority on other judges of the High Court (although they are still free to follow Judge Ibrahim’s decision if they so choose). Seychelles continues to prosecute pirates but may periodically refuse suspects due to a lack of space in its prisons. Finally, last month it was reported that Tanzania had yet to sign a pirate-suspect transfer agreement with the EU, indicating that prosecutions in Tanzania will be limited to those captured by Tanzanian naval authorities for the time-being.