…As Egyptian court sentences 11 to life imprisonment for joining Islamic State***

A South Korean bulk carrier was boarded by armed pirates while underway near the Singapore Strait in the morning hours of July 22.

The vessel in question is the 81,147 dwt CK Bluebell, Yonhap news agency said citing government officials.

Seven armed pirates assaulted the seafarers aboard the South Korean-registered bulker some 100 miles from the entrance to the strait.

Officials at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries informed that the pirates stole around USD 13,000 in cash, as well as the crew’s personal belongings.

There were no reports of casualties following the attack, the official said, noting that some sailors sustained minor injuries during confrontations with the pirates.

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After the attack, the 2011-built CK Bluebell resumed its voyage. The vessel was en route to Incheon from Brazil’s Port of Santos at the time of the incident.

In the meantime, an Egyptian criminal court on Monday sentenced 11 defendants to life in prison on charges of joining the Islamic State extremist group in Syria and Iraq.

The Giza Criminal Court also sentenced two other defendants to 15 years in prison and another to three years in the same case.

All verdicts can be appealed.

The charges against the defendants include receiving training to carry out hostile acts in the country, plotting attacks on police and military forces and seeking to forcibly topple the government.

Egypt has been battling an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai since the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosny Mubarak.

The attacks have intensified after the military in 2013 deposed Mohammed Morsi, the first democratically elected but divisive Islamist president of Egypt.

After his ouster, Morsi was detained and tried in several cases.

He died in mid-June at the age of 67 after suddenly collapsing inside a courtroom in Cairo.

Additional reports from World Maritime News