A court of first instance in Hadramout province began on Sunday a trial of a thirteen-member group of Somali pirates on piracy charges.

During the trial session chaired by the Judge Abdu Ali al-Auadhi, Hadramout prosecution's head Khaled al-Maouiry read to the court the indictment, saying accusing the Somalis of hijacking two Yemeni boats "Dhafir and Jawad" and used them in piracy operations against foreign vessels in the international and Yemeni territorial waters.

Al-Maouiry said that the pirates have prepared all requisite equipment of weapons, explosives and ladders to carry out their criminal acts, which have damaged Yemen's economic status and endangered the marine shipping in the international and Yemeni territorial waters.

The court listened to the list of evidences, which included the admissions of the pirates in the prosecution.

Al-Maouiry said that the Somalis were arrested near Nashton coast of Mahrah province on 28 May 2010, adding that various kinds of weapons including RPG and ammunition were found with them.

After reading the indictment, the accused have denied the charges, then the court adjourned the trial to November 6th to enable the prosecution to present the evidences.

According to economic experts Yemen's economy are badly affected by piracy. The increasing piracy attacks have affected navigation activities in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The national economy has sustained huge losses caused by piracy because of reduction numbers of ships using Yemeni ports for fuelling and services.

Piracy has been growing because of the deteriorating situations in Somalia that forced over 700,000 people seeking refuge in Yemen.

The continuous disorder there and absence of state have encouraged pirates to expand their operations to interrupt international commercial ships.

Rohosafi, English News Staff
Email: englishnews@live.com