Seven Somali nationals today pleaded not guilty in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to firing at Malaysian soldiers during a robbery on board a vessel in the Gulf of Aden two years ago.

Ahmed Othman Jamal, 27, Abdil Eid Hasan, 22, and five underage individuals were charged with discharging firearms with intent to cause death or hurt on board the Bunga Laurel vessel at coordinates, Latitude 20'14.73N Longitude 063'39.96E, 250 nautical miles from Oman, between 8.10pm and 10pm on Jan 20, 2011.

The charge, under Section 3 of the Firearms (Increased Penalties) Act 1971 and read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, provides for the death sentence upon conviction.

The charge had been amended with changes made to the coordinates after it was questioned by the defence counsel. The initial coordinates showed the location to be on a  landed area in India.

Judge Mohd Azman Husin set Sept 2 to 13 for the hearing.

At the beginning of the proceeding, he allowed deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas to withdraw an alternative charge against all the accused.

Lawyer Chan Yen Hui, representing one of the underage accused, initially objected to the prosecution’s request on grounds that her client and the other accused had pleaded guilty.

She said the alternative charge was made under Section 32(1)(a) of the Arms Act 1960 which provided imprisonment for life or for a term not exceeding 14 years, and that the prosecution was not empowered to withdraw the charge after all the accused had made their plea.

However, Mohamad Abazafree said that prior to this, the High Court had rejected the guilty plea and that the issue on the withdrawal of the alternative charge needed not be questioned.

Mohamad Abazafree is assisted by deputy public prosecutor Yusaini Amir Abd Karim in the case, while the defence team comprised, besides Chan, lawyers Amrit Pal Singh, A Saha Deva and Lee Teong Hooi.

On Oct 18 last year, High Court judge Kamardin Hashim declined to record the guilty plea by the seven Somalis after the defence questioned on the actual location where the incident took place and ordered the case to be heard before another High Court judge in Kuala Lumpur.

- Bernama