[Excaliber]

I understood his hand was injured by the sailors on the freighter when he was first captured by them? The injury, how ever he recieved it, is a good example of how difficult it is to get the facts from news reports!

It seems logical he would be deported back to Africa after serving his sentence.

The official position of the US is that they don't negotiate in cases like this (kidnapping, hostage taking, etc.). But the fact is there is often a "wink and nod" involved and money or goods do change hands to secure the release of captives in some cases. For instance in this case and in most of these cases it is left up the owners of the ship to negotiate for release and the US, as well as other countries, generally do not interfere. Family members may negotiate a release in some cases without the official involvement of Government.