[MMM]

After reading that they sound more like Al Qaeda terrorist factions than I originally thought.

Al Qaeda terrorist factions have safe havens in certain places, too. You can say they have only broken "maritime laws", but their actions are not much different from terrorists (kidnapping, sinking ships, destruction of property). They sink ships, calling the sailors of those ships "pirates", kind of how Al Qaeda calls Westerners names to justify their actions.