Pirates jailed

A Nigerian court on Friday jailed 10 pirates over the hijacking of a merchant vessel last year, in the second such trial under a new anti-piracy law. The Maritime Executive reports that they will each serve 12-year jail terms. The pirates, all of them Nigerian, were convicted of hijacking the Chinese merchant ship FV Hailufeng II in the Gulf of Guinea in 2020. Kidnap attacks against ships for ransom have become common in the Gulf of Guinea, which runs from Senegal to Angola, taking in the southwest coast of Nigeria. In addition to their prison sentences, the convicts will each have to pay $600 per count for three counts of piracy. They are expected to appeal their convictions.