Kenya releases Somali pirates after seven years in prison

Seven Somali accused of being pirates were Friday released from a Kenyan jail after serving seven in prison.

They claimed that they were fishermen and not pirates as accused by Kenyan authorities.

“We are fishermen who are jailed in Mombasa for a long time, we were kidnapped from our sea without committing any crime” said of these men as they were coming out of the prison.

All the seven men are from Puntland regions and jailed in Kenya for seven years without trial

Somali government has been working on ways to repatriate over hundred of its nationals jail in Kenya.

Somalia’s ambassador to Kenya, Jamaal Mohamed said that the embassy works on how repatriate all these men back to somalia.

“There is an agreement between the two countries that will ensure all of them are taken back to Somalia” said Jamaal.

He added ” They were such promises in the past but the fact remains that many Somali national continue to suffer in Kenyan jails.”

Global piracy at sea is at its lowest level for eight years, and a perceived reduction in the piracy threat in the Gulf of Aden has seen funding for piracy courts withdrawn in several countries.