Two Somali men whom prosecutors called pirates were sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in prison for the 2012 kidnapping of an American journalist who was held hostage for more than two years.

Abdi Yusuf Hassan and Mohamed Tahlil Mohamed, both with positions in the Somali government, were “key players” in the kidnapping of journalist Michael Scott Moore, said US prosecutor Damian Williams.

Moore was in Somalia investigating piracy when men with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades ambushed his vehicle and took him hostage on Jan. 21, 2012, authorities said.

Moore was held hostage for 977 days while pirates demanded a ransom, and at one point, he was transferred to a ship that had been taken over by pirates and whose murdered captain was kept in a freezer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said.

Hassan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was Somalia’s interior minister but was also the head of the pirate group, prosecutors said.

Mohamed, a Somali army officer, was the pirates’ security chief and armorer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Moore was released in September 2014. He said his family raised $1.6 million for his release. The Associated Press reported at the time the two Somalis were convicted of the kidnapping.

Hassan and Mohamed were convicted by a federal jury in February 2023.

“For nearly three years, Michael Scott Moore was held hostage by pirates in Somalia. They beat him, chained him to the ground, and threatened him with assault rifles and machine guns,” said Williams, the US attorney. said in a statesmant. “Hassan and Mohamed were key players in that hostage taking.”

The mandatory minimum sentence in the case is 30 years in prison.

Mohamed’s attorney, Susan G. Kellman, argued in a court filing that “Mohamed’s life reflects the chaos, violence and turmoil of his homeland.” Moore said in court that Mohamed was “kind” to him and did not hit him like his other captors did, he wrote, and Mohamed later provided Moore with photographs and other information about his ordeal for a book.

“Unfortunately, this case is a prime example of how draconian mandatory minimum sentences are,” Kellman said in an email Tuesday. She said they plan to appeal.

Prosecutors were asking for 30 years for Mohamed and 35 years for Hassan.

While prosecutors admitted that testimony at trial described Mohamed as “gentle,” they wrote that “the conduct of the defendants in this case is nothing short of abhorrent.”

A lawyer listed as representing Hassan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Piracy remains a threat off the coast of Somalia, although the United Nations said in a 2021 report that progress has been made and that there has been a decrease in kidnappings and other forms of armed robbery since 2011.

This article was originally published in NBCNews.com