Men who killed Maltese port manager in Somalia reportedly sentenced to death
The men accused of killing Maltese port manager Paul Formosa in Somalia last February have been sentenced to death by a military tribunal, Somali media reported yesterday.
The Somali website Garowe Online reported that a member of the Puntland Maritime Police Force had been sentenced to death for “facilitating the murder.”
Others have received the same sentence in absentia.
One of Formosa’s killers was shot in the head during the attack, with the second having died in hospital from injuries sustained during the attack.
Paul Formosa was shot and killed by Somalia’s al-Qaedalinked al-Shabab extremist group in February while working for a Dubai government-owned port operator in the country’s semiautonomous Puntland region.
“My father was a good man – he helped the people of the countries he worked in, and offered them a liveable wage,” his daughter Sarah had said at the time.
“My father was not in Somalia illegally. My father was not a businessman. My father was a worker. He was an employee. He was not there on holiday. He was there working hard for his family to provide a better life. He was dedicated to his work. He was there making sacrifices and he made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
“No one chooses to go to Somalia, especially if it’s illegal for him to go. I also want to send a message to the keyboard warriors using my father to justify their racism. My father was a good man. He helped the people of the countries he worked in and offered them a liveable wage. The people coming here are escaping the people that killed my father. My father’s murder isn’t a justification for people to spew hatred and push their agenda.”
The attack on Dubai’s P&O Ports came as the United Arab Emirates rapidly expanded its port operations and military presence in Somalia and across East Africa. In claiming the attack, al-Shabab said it targeted the man because he worked for a company that ‘occupies’ Somalia’s Bosaso Port, likely a worrying sign for the Emiratis amid their expansion.