The very different fates of "Captain Philips" and the Iranian "Captain Shahriar"

Captain Richard Phillipsas, returning home after being held hostage

It was back in 2009 when Captain Richard Phillipsas the former captain of the MV Maersk Alabama ship was held hostage by Somali pirates during the cargo ship's hijacking. Only two days after this incident which took place on April 7th U.S. Navy marksmen from SEAL Team 6 became active and were sent to rescue this man.  On April 9th they got permission to open fire with .30 calibre SR-25 precision rifles and they successfully killed the three pirates on the lifeboat, and Phillips was rescued in good condition. The recent movie "Captain Philips" fully presents this story with details.

Actor Tom Hanks acting as "Captain Phillipsas" in the movie
Captain Philips (2013)

Incidents such as these happen quiet often when ships containing goods pass by that area close to the waters of Somalia. However not all captains from all ships would be considered this much precious by their government officials to pursue their life and freedom.

It was September 2010 when an Iranian ship named "Albaedo" was caught by similar pirates in the same area the captain of the ship -Captain Shahriar Ali Abadi- was held hostage along with several other crew members from Pakistan, India and Malaysia. The pirates promised that they will release the hostages on shore after two weeks when they make sure that they have the ship. However they never released them and the connection with the ship was lost after two weeks. Captain Ali Abadi was supposed to get married after his return to Iran, but this never happened.

Captain Shahriar Ali Abadi still being held
hostage after more than three years

14 Months later Captain called his family and announced the killing of one of his Indian crew members by the pirates and told them that the pirates are asking for about 100,000 USD as ransom. The family was absolutely unable to pay such amount. The pirates did the same to other crew members and finally the government of Pakistan paid them 800,000 USD to release its own crew members. (9 Pakistani were released)



This week the pirates called his family once again and threatened that if the money is not paid within two weeks (until December 10th) they will kill him because they can't feed him anymore! The government of Iran has been recently active and they are following the case now, but it whether they can do something or not at this point is the question.

- Persian Source (Hamshahri Newpaper)