Terrorism and the political offence exception in international criminal law

Abstract

An attempt is made to provide the development of international criminal law in relation to terrorism, with a legal analysis against a political background in Chapter I of this study. An insurmountable obstacle to provide effective regulatory principles of international terrorism has, so far, been the inability of the world community to arrive at an agreeable definition of that term. The various problems and controversies preventing international agreement on the definitional aspect of terrorism will receive attention in Chapter II. Chapter III concerns past and contemporary attempts at suppressing terrorist activities by means of international and regional conventions, together with other efforts undertaken by purely academic bodies. One of the most effective methods of combating terrorism and its perpetrators is to deny them any form of political status, let alone any consideration given to their acts as being political crimes. The political offence exception provides such a safeguard. Its rationale and evolution have consequently been entrusted to Chapter IV. Both terrorism and the political crime in respect to their definitional problems prove to be as elusive 'as the scarlet pimpernel'. Political crimes have been interpreted by the Anglo-Saxon Judiciary to denote one form of politically motivated criminality, whereas Continental Jurisprudence seems to have taken a rather more unorthodox approach. Chapter V attempts to wrestle with these various interpretations and juridical notions inherent in the term 'political crime'. Finally, the vital question whether terrorism should be considered as a form of political criminality and the effect of the determination of this problem on the traditional institutions of extradition and political asylum, is handled in Chapter VI.