Pirates on trial

Why do we have to read this in a Turkish newspaper? I don't mind, of course, particularly as Hürriyet tends to be an anti-government newspaper but it would be nice to have this item instead of yet another update on Z-list celebrities in the jungle.

It seems that Germany is trying a bunch of Somali pirates though, sadly, all they might be sentenced to is a few years in prison.

Anja Shortland, who studies piracy at the German Institute for Economic Research said that for a Somali pirate to be tried in the West "might be the ultimate prize rather than a deterrent."

"Spending three, five, even seven years in a European or American jail followed by political asylum - you can't do much better as a Somali man," she said.

I am not sure about this suggestion that this is the first pirate trial in Germany for 400 years. Back then there was no Germany though, obviously, there was an Ottoman Empire.