2 Somali pirates get 30 years in kidnapping of U.S. journalist held hostage for 977 days

Two Somali pirates have been sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping American journalist Michael Scott Moore and holding him hostage for 977 days, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. 

Moore, a freelance journalist, traveled to Somalia in 2012 to research piracy and the nation's economy. On January 21, he was kidnapped by multiple heavily armed men and transported him to a secluded area, where he was held captive along with two fishermen from the Seychelles. Moore was moved several times over the course of three months, then transported to a hijacked boat, the F/V Naham III. Moore and one of the fishermen were held captive there, along with 28 crew members, for several more months, according to the Department of Justice. The fisherman was tortured, and the crew members told Moore that the pirates had killed the ship's captain when they hijacked the vessel, prosecutors said. 

Moore remained a hostage for another two years, continuously shuffled between safehouses, kept under armed guard and chained at night to prevent escape, prosecutors said. He was repeatedly threatened, according to the Department of Justice, and forced to make proof-of-life videos requesting large ransom payments. In 2014, negotiators paid a ransom of $1.6 million to secure Moore's release. Moore has said his family funded the ransom payment, and published a book about his experience in 2018.