Spain rules out freeing Somali pirates

MADRID — Spain’s deputy defense minister has ruled out freeing two detained Somali pirates as demanded by fellow hijackers who are holding a Spanish trawler and 33 crew members.

Constantino Mendez says those two men were captured in connection with the hijacking of the Spanish-registered tuna boat on Oct. 2 and brought to Madrid.

He told Spanish National Radio, “the situation is not negotiable.“

However, he seemed to leave open the possibility of transferring them to the court system of another country.

In May, Spanish naval forces caught seven young pirates trying to hijack a Panamanian-flagged ship in the Gulf of Aden. Courts here initially considered bringing them to Madrid but ultimately turned them over to Kenya under an anti-piracy agreement with the European Union.