NORFOLK, Va., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A judge in Norfolk, Va., Tuesday sentenced Somali pirate Ahmed Muse Salad to 19 consecutive life sentences for a 2011 hijacking that killed four Americans.
Salad and two other Somali men were convicted of hijacking the yacht Quest off the coast of Africa in February 2011. Ransom negotiations broke down and a California couple that owned the sailboat and two other Americans, both from Seattle, were shot to death.
The other defendants -- Akbukar Osman Beyle, 20, and Shani Nurani Shiekh Akbar, 29 -- face sentencing in U.S. District Court in Norfolk later this week, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported. A jury convicted all three men of 26 felonies on July 8.
Salad received 19 consecutive life terms, plus 30 years Tuesday, with no possibility of parole.
Eleven of the Somalis captured on the sailboat pleaded guilty and they all received life sentences.
