The Seychelles sentenced 11 Somalis on Monday to 10 years in prison for piracy-related offenses in the first conviction of its kind in the Indian Ocean island nation, a statement said.

"Eight accused were convicted for the offence of committing an act of piracy and three others for aiding and abetting an act of piracy," the Seychelles presidency said after the ruling by the Supreme Court.

They were acquited of terrorism charges.

The pirates, four of them under 18, were detained in December by the crew of the Seychelles coastguard boat Topaz after attempting to hijack it.

"Their conviction is a historical milestone as it is the first time that a piracy trial is successfully prosecuted in the Seychelles," the statement said.

There are 29 other Somalis awaiting trial in the archipelago's only prison, nine of whom have yet to be charged.

Since the world's naval powers started deploying warships to the Gulf of Aden in 2008 to protect the crucial waterway, Somali pirates have extended their reach further out in the Indian Ocean, notably affecting the Seychelles.

Earlier this year, the Seychelles became only the second littoral state after Kenya to sign agreements with the European Union and other naval powers for prosecuting suspected pirates detained at sea.

But it has warned it did not have the capacity to keep all sentenced Somalis and the Seychelles national assembly last week passed a new law aimed at facilitating their transfer back to Somalia at the earliest opportunity.

"Seychelles has started engaging partners in Somalia on the transfer of prisoners issue," Attorney General Ronny Govinden told AFP.

"Obviously though, the situation on the ground has to be conducive... But so long as we keep them here, it limits our capacity to take in more suspects," he explained.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is leading a programme aimed at bringing prisons in the northern Somali breakaway state of Puntland -- where many pirates come from -- to international standards.

(Source:AFP)