Etemad Newspaper: Eight Iranian Fishermen Killed Under Torture by Somali Pirates

Etemad newspaper reported in its issue on Monday, November 8, that 21 Iranian fishermen were taken hostage by pirates in Somalia about 17 months ago, and during this time, eight of them have been killed due to 'physical torture.' According to the report, these 21 individuals went to the waters of the Oman Sea from Konarak in Sistan and Baluchestan province on January 22, 2015, and were kidnapped by Somali pirates on April 6, 2015. The newspaper stated that eight of these fishermen were killed due to 'physical torture' by the pirates, four of them managed to escape with the help of the Somali government, and one escaped alone from the pirates. The newspaper reported that the pirates have divided the remaining eight into two groups of four and demanded $150,000 for the release of the captain of the ship and his relatives, and $30,000 for the release of the other four. Parvin Sabahi, the wife of Jamaluddin Dahvari, the kidnapped captain, told Etemad that she cannot raise this amount and 'the authorities have not provided any assistance for their release so far.' According to Mrs. Sabahi, the pirates have 'taken an Iranian translator' and are communicating with the families of the hostages through this translator. She said that in the early days after the fishermen were taken hostage, the pirates 'tortured her husband and held the phone in front of their mouths, and they screamed.' The wife of the kidnapped captain said: 'My 18-year-old daughter has just been accepted into university, but I had no money to register her. I told her to stay home until hopefully next year her father returns and pays for her university. My little daughter asks for her father every night. She says, why don’t we have money to free daddy? She brings her earrings and gives them to me, saying take these and sell them to free daddy.' Relatives of one of the kidnapped fishermen also told Etemad that two months ago they transferred 80 million tomans to the pirates' account, but they did not release the hostages. They added: 'Transferring money does not help in freeing the fishermen... every time they call, they say we need to find a Pakistani person around us who knows how to talk to them.' In previous years, several Iranian fishermen and sailors have been kidnapped by pirates in Somalia. Last December, 15 crew members of a fishing boat who were kidnapped by Somali pirates were freed after a gunfight with Somali security forces, resulting in the death of several pirates. Earlier, in September 2015, AFP reported that an Iranian fishing boat that had been held captive by Somali fishermen for over five months managed to escape from them. In November 2015, Somali officials reported that four Iranian fishermen were rescued from a group of pirates through the efforts of the country's security forces. Somalia is one of the countries that cut diplomatic relations with Iran last year after the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and recalled its ambassador from Tehran. The kidnapping of several Iranian fishermen comes at a time when Iranian naval officials have reported the presence of their naval ships in the Gulf of Aden to combat piracy. The Gulf of Aden is located near the African country of Somalia and the war-torn country of Yemen and has long been a hotspot for piracy. The Iranian Navy announced in August 2015 that two groups of pirates who had attacked an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden at 'various times' faced the response of the 35th naval group and left the area. Meanwhile, Habibollah Sayyari, the commander of the Iranian Navy, has repeatedly stated that the reason for the presence of their naval ships in the Gulf of Aden is to 'protect the economic interests of the Islamic Republic' against piracy.