Members, please check out the Forum under The Way Forward category for an important post that requires your attention! Thanks in advance for your consideration and wise advice.

I spent the day traveling, and on checking email when I arrived, found out that the Puntland forces which had surrounded MV Iceberg 1 for the last couple of weeks had finally managed to free the ship! No more details seem to be available at this time, but keep checking our website Piracy News page, and our Facebook page, for more updates.

And if you see anything you'd like to share, please post it on the Facebook page for all to see. This is big news - let's keep each other up-to-date! And God bless the former hostages.

MV Iceberg 1 Mariners Action Group Petition is up! Check it out here: http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/the-government-of-india-mr-shri-pranab-mukherjee-take-action-to-free-the-crew-of-the-m-v-iceberg-1#

Have a look and sign it if you can.

Tell your friends - tell your shipmates. Let's push this for all we're worth!

This is the first of what we hope will be many petitions on behalf of the hostages. Other petitions can be directed to other targets, and can make additional points, so please let us know how YOU would word or direct a petition! We'll take all your comments into consideration to strengthen and sharpen future efforts.

Sign & spread the word - God bless you and the MV Iceberg 1 hostages!

Wanted to let everyone know that in future, the news items posted here will pertain only to the Mariners Action Group - news about our organization, our actions, or any events we might plan. 

General news about piracy or pirate hostages will be posted on the MV Iceberg 1 Mariners Action Group (MAG) website under the "Piracy News" tab.

I've no idea whether this will be good or not, but Danish writer/director Tobias Lindholm has made a film, titled "A Hijacking", that was praised in this review (see link) from the Venice Film Festival. The film is about negotiations during a Somali hostage situation.

In the film a ship - the "Rozen" - is hijacked by pirates. The action on board is seen through the character of the ship's cook, Mikkel. As negotiations drag on through weeks and months, conditions on board deteriorate and the pressure on the crew grows.

Here's a quote from the review: "Working effectively with the professional actors in the cast, meanwhile, real-life marine security expert Gary Skjoldmose Porter further boosts the general air of hard-knock versimilitude in a production which illuminatingly and sensitively dramatizes an easily-overlooked global crime phenomenon." 

The link: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/venice-2012-a-hijacking-movie-review-tobias-lindholm-367576 

AnsarBurney List 
510 following • 4489 followers 
@taralphiel @rbss4 We have to request with NATO to take stern action against Somali Pirates to get release MV Iceberg1 

(Ansar Burney's answer to a member's question about directing a Mariners Action Group petition. ~Reid)

Just-released report on the impact piracy has on seafarers - those held captive, as well as those who simply live with the threat of piracy overshadowing their working lives. Here is the link:

http://www.seamenschurch.org/sites/default/files/sci-piracy-study-report-web_0.pdf