A US court sentenced a Somali pirate to 33 years & 9 months in prison, for his role in the hijacking of an American cargo ship and two other vessels.

Abdu-wali Abdu-khadir Muse, pleaded guilty last year to hijacking the US-flagged "Maersk Alabama" in the Indian Ocean near Somalia. Prosecutors say Muse led a band of pirates, who briefly seized the vessel and its crew in April of 2009. The US Navy took him into custody during an operation that killed three other pirates.