"Smiling Pirate"

"Smiling Pirate"

In April 2009, four Somali pirates hijacked the cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean and held its captain Richard Phillips ransom for $2 million. Instead, the U.S. Navy managed to rescue Phillips and killed three of the pirates in the process. The sole survivor, Abduwali Muse, became the subject of much fascination when photos of his perp walk showed him grinning broadly, apparently unfazed. Throughout his trial, the prosecution painted Muse as cruel and sadistic, claiming he'd acted as the pirates' leader and took pleasure in tormenting Phillips.

However, the defense argued that Muse was a victim of his circumstances, coerced into a life of piracy by people older than him. In court documents, Muse's lawyers wrote that as a child, Muse survived "primarily on camel's milk, although sometimes he had fruit or nuts. About once a month, he might be given a cooked meal... When his father was particularly upset, he would tie Abduwali to a tree and tell him that a lion would come to eat him." And while his exact age is contested, Muse was just a teenager when he hijacked Captain Richard Phillips' ship — and he may have even been underage.