Somalia pardons UK and American ransom couriers

26/06/2011 - 11:45

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia has pardoned six foreigners convicted of illegally carrying millions of dollars into the country with the intention of paying pirate ransoms, the government spokesman and presidency officials said.

"Considering the humanitarian situation, the Somali president pardoned the six foreigners," government spokesman Abdirahman Osman Yarisow told Reuters on Sunday, adding the $3.6 million (2.2 million pounds) ransom the men were transporting would be kept.

(Reporting by Mohamed Ahmed and Abdi Sheikh; Editing by David Clarke)