SANAA - A Yemeni criminal court on Saturday sentenced 13 Somalis to 12 years in prison after convicting them of piracy in the Yemeni territorial waters, state-run Saba news agency reported.

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The court in the southeast Hadramout province said in its verdict that the convicts were arrested on May 28, 2010, while they were targeting a foreign ship in the Yemeni territorial waters in the Gulf of Aden as their boat was equipped with explosive devices, ladders and rifles.

The court ordered the confiscation of the convicted equipment they used in the piracy and granted them the right to appeal within the statutory period according to the Yemeni law.

On October 31, 2010, an Aden-based court sentenced 10 Somalis who were convicted of hijacking a Yemeni-flagged fishing ship to five- year prison term.

About 25,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden every year. The water off the northern coast of Somalia is ranked as the highest risk of piracy in the world.