US citizen, Somali convicted in journalist’s hostage-taking

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors say two men have been convicted of helping Somali pirates who kidnapped a U.S. journalist for ransom and held him for 2 1/2 years. The U.S. attorney’s office says Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed and Abdi Yusuf Hassan were convicted by a federal court jury in New York on Feb. 24. They could face life sentences for hostage-taking, conspiracy, providing material support for acts of terrorism and other crimes. Prosecutors say the men helped pirates who kidnapped German-American journalist Michael Scott Moore in 2012 in Somalia and held him for 977 days before he was released after his family paid a $1.6 million ransom. Hassan is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was arrested in Minneapolis in 2019.