Jailed Somali pirates face grim life conditions in India prison

Dozens of Somalis are being held in dire conditions at prisons in India, according to one of the detainees.

According holds more than 100 Somalis convicted of piracy activities who were jailed after being captured in the middle of piracy activities in the high seas.

One of the detainees said that they are lacking sufficient food, water and medical treatment, after

He claimed that they were fishermen and not pirates as accused by Indian authorities.

“We are fishermen who are jailed in India for a long time, we were kidnapped from our sea without committing any crime” said one of these men.

He called on Somalia’s Federal government intervention.

‘’We urge our government and authorities to obtain our release as soon as possible. We want to leave this country.’’

India is one of a few countries that are prosecuting pirates, alongside Kenya, Seychelles and Mauritius. But the cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute and take a long time to complete.

Somali pirates have once terrorised the Indian Ocean, seizing ships every month and secured hundreds millions for ransom, until the European Union sent an anti-piracy force that ended the boundless piracy attacks in high seas.

Hundreds of pirates were arrested and now serving long jail terms in different countries and in prisons in the northern Somalia semiautonomous region of Puntland and the neighbouring breakaway region of Somaliland.

The EU naval forces have largely brought the piracy to an end,

The drop in piracy incidents is a relief to shipping companies using the Indian Ocean that have been the target of pirates.

However, experts warned that a new wave of illegal fishing by large trawlers may help the return of piracy to the Indian Ocean.