Parece que la tortura se ha convertido en una práctica generalizada dentro de la escalada de secuestros marítimos en el Índico:
Piracy related torture is on the rise
A new trend is making the rising incidence of piracy in the waters off Somalia even more disturbing.
It is not just that the pirates’ reach is increasing, there is also evidence that torture of captured seafarers is becoming a regular occurrence.
Bill Box of Intertanko is secretary of the industry’s SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign. He told MJ, “A year or so ago the hostages were well treated, at least physically, although it was still tough mentally. But over the last 12 months we have seen a decline in the way hostages are treated on an ongoing basis. There is more incidence of torture now, and there are more deaths.”
Mr Box pointed to one ship, held for eight months. “Four months in, it seems the pirates got bored waiting for negotiations to finish, and started torturing the hostage seafarers on an almost daily basis.” One difficulty is that negotiations are protracted on both sides because logically, if ransom payments were agreed straight away, the amounts would simply become stratospheric.”
Mr Box’s point is that the political will being shown by governments is the only effective way to tackle piracy, but the political will only follows from people’s readiness to tell their governments to act. “This is the whole point behind the shipping industry’s SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign”, he said.
Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre said that more than 80% of captured pirates are freed, sending the wrong signal to the pirates.
As many as 62 seafarers have died in the past four years as a direct result of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, through deliberate murder by pirates, suicide during the period of captivity, death from malnutrition and disease, death by drowning, or heart failure just after the hijacking. This year, despite the current monsoon season which normally reduces activity, Somali pirates have escalated their attacks.
Fuente: Maritime Journal
Bill Box of Intertanko is secretary of the industry’s SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign. He told MJ, “A year or so ago the hostages were well treated, at least physically, although it was still tough mentally. But over the last 12 months we have seen a decline in the way hostages are treated on an ongoing basis. There is more incidence of torture now, and there are more deaths.”
Mr Box pointed to one ship, held for eight months. “Four months in, it seems the pirates got bored waiting for negotiations to finish, and started torturing the hostage seafarers on an almost daily basis.” One difficulty is that negotiations are protracted on both sides because logically, if ransom payments were agreed straight away, the amounts would simply become stratospheric.”
Mr Box’s point is that the political will being shown by governments is the only effective way to tackle piracy, but the political will only follows from people’s readiness to tell their governments to act. “This is the whole point behind the shipping industry’s SOS SaveOurSeafarers campaign”, he said.
Pottengal Mukundan, director of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre said that more than 80% of captured pirates are freed, sending the wrong signal to the pirates.
As many as 62 seafarers have died in the past four years as a direct result of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, through deliberate murder by pirates, suicide during the period of captivity, death from malnutrition and disease, death by drowning, or heart failure just after the hijacking. This year, despite the current monsoon season which normally reduces activity, Somali pirates have escalated their attacks.
Fuente: Maritime Journal
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