NEW YORK — A Somali teenager whose role in the commandeering of an American cargo ship thrust him into the international spotlight has been indicted on multiple piracy charges, authorities said Tuesday.

Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse _ the only pirate to survive the siege _ has been jailed in Manhattan since he was captured on April 12 and flown to the United States to face what’s believed to be the first U.S. piracy prosecution in more than a century.

Muse, 18, was expected to enter a plea later this week on 10 counts, including piracy under the law of nations, conspiracy, hostage-taking, kidnapping and possession of a machine gun while seizing a ship by force.

U.S. prosecutors have branded Muse the ringleader of a band of four pirates who provoked the deadly drama, while defense attorneys have insisted he’s a bewildered teenager snatched from obscurity. He wept last month when his lawyers failed to convince a judge he was only 15 and should be tried as a juvenile.

His lawyers didn’t immediately respond to telephone messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Muse grew up destitute in Somalia, the oldest of 12 children and the product of a violent, lawless nation where piracy has flourished. On April 8, he teamed up with other young bandits who targeted the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama, which is managed by Norfolk, Va.-based Maersk Line Ltd., as it transported humanitarian supplies about 280 miles off the Somali coast.

An FBI criminal complaint said Muse was the first to board the boat, firing his AK-47 assault rifle at the captain, Richard Phillips. He entered the bridge, told the captain to stop the ship and “conducted himself as the leader of the pirates,” according to the complaint.

The pirates held Phillips, of Underhill, Vt., hostage for several days on a sweltering, enclosed lifeboat that was soon shadowed by three U.S. warships and a helicopter.

The standoff ended when Navy snipers got the go-ahead to shoot three pirates after one held an AK-47 close to Phillips’ back.

The Spanish naval supply ship Marques de la Ensenada had delivered the men in the Kenyan port of Mombasa at 0800 GMT, a spokesman said.

Fourteen suspected pirates were captured by the Spanish navy in two separate incidents last week. The spokesman said the 14th had been wounded and was in hospital in Djibouti.

National Court Judge Fernando Andreu Andreu had ordered the defence ministry to send them to Spain so they could be questioned under a piracy law adopted last year after a Spanish trawler and its crew were held hostage by Somali pirates.

He argued that sending them to Kenya to be prosecuted would violate their rights since an inquiry was already under way in Spain.

The judge then ordered them freed, before finally agreeing to a request by Spain’s military chief to hand them over to the Kenyans under an accord between Nairobi and the European Union, which is running an anti-piracy naval mission off Somalia.

The EU naval mission, Atalanta, began operations last December in an effort to stop attacks on one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirate attacks off lawless Somalia increased tenfold in the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2008, jumping from six to 61.

Source: AFP