Is it legal for a civilian to kill Osama bin Laden?

[Pangloss]

That's the interesting question posed by Joshua Keating at Foreign Policy today. The question refers to the recent arrest of Colorado construction worker Gary Faulkner, who was arrested last week in Pakistan on a weapons charge. Faulkner had apparently been planning to stalk and kill bin Laden.

 

Questions of practicality (and sanity) aside, had Faulkner succeeded, could he be charged with murder?

 

Probably not. Faulkner probably couldn't be charged with murder if he killed bin Laden and then returned to the United States, since the murder would have happened abroad where U.S. courts have no say. "Universal jurisdiction" for crimes against humanity is an increasingly popular notion in human rights law, and one that's been gaining some traction in the United States -- a U.S. citizen was convicted of committing torture abroad for the first time last year -- but a simple murder, particularly when the victim is the world's most infamous terrorist, probably wouldn't qualify.

 

Of course, bin Laden's killer could still be charged with murder in Pakistan, or wherever the assassination took place. The United States has an extradition treaty with Pakistan, but it's hard to imagine any U.S. government handing bin Laden's killer over to Islamabad.

 

The article goes on to talk about "letters of marque and reprisal" (not issued since 1812), and Ron Paul's recent efforts to revive the concept in order to allow private militias to go hunt him down. The article makes an interesting point in saying that any group that planned such a activity while within the US could be arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder outside the US.

 

What do you all think of Ron Paul's suggestion? I'm not sure what I think on this but I'd probably have to go with "no" (don't allow), because it seems like kind of an invitation to nasty mercenary activities and making the US look even worse overseas. For example, Paul suggests that the act could be used to fight Somali pirates, but I think the current international effort (patrol) makes more sense, and that problem is much more clearly rooted in poverty than the situation with Al Qaeda. But what do you folks think?

 

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/22/is_it_legal_to_kill_osama_bin_laden

[padren]

Given that such activities of US citizens would have an impact on US foreign relations it would probably be "really bad" for such actions to be sanctioned by the US government.

 

I can only imagine such activities would have to be handled through some sort of military contracting, or at the very least some sort of international law would have to be recognized. Additionally, there is a huge issue of collateral damage that would come up.

 

I can't imagine the US Government would be too happy if folks came here to kill Americans and enjoyed legal safety back in their countries of origin.

[Mr Skeptic]

I don't believe it would be legal. However, it is really doubtful that the US would extradite said person. Perhaps they might even retroactively make them intelligence agents (and pretend they were all along) and say that they were on a secret mission to kill him, if allowing a private citizen to do it would be politically impractical.

[Sisyphus]

Is Osama bin Laden still technically a Saudi citizen?

[ajb]

I can't imagine the US Government would be too happy if folks came here to kill Americans and enjoyed legal safety back in their countries of origin.

 

We kind of see this all the time.

 

Terrorist are often seen as heroes and have big parades. This includes if they have killed women and children.

 

For example, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, who was tried for the Pan Am flight 103 bombing was released and handed over to Libya where he was given a reception fit for a national hero.

 

We see many similar things in Palestine where killing Jewish children gets you a street party.

 

Here is an example of a Saudi killing a US citizen in the USA. Abdulsalam S. al-Zahrani killed Professor Richard T. Antoun by stabbing him. The Professor worked on Islamic and Middle East studies. So, it does happen. I do not know if the Saudi government made any statements about this. Anyone?

Edited June 28, 2010 by ajb

[Pangloss]

Is Osama bin Laden still technically a Saudi citizen?

 

That's a great question. I looked it up and several stories say that the Saudis revoked his citizenship status in the early 1990s. But of course it's the Saudis, with all the baggage that implies.

[ecoli]

Great question... though it probably wouldn't be a good thing if vigilantes were allowed to kill (even if they were wanted by a government), I can't think of a reason why being on the government's payroll makes this type of murder ok, when the end result is the same.

[jackson33]

Is it legal for a civilian to kill Osama bin Laden? [/Quote]

 

Implied "Dead or Alive" has a meaning under US Law. bin Laden is on the FBI's Most Wanted list (No. ONE) and Bush has stated dead or alive. If someone managed to avoid foreign law, killed him and transported the body back to the US and it was him, their would be no case to prosecute and he/she/group would receive the 50M$ reward.

 

Mercenary Armies, are nothing new in the US, forget which ones, but a few of the founders discussed this possibility and we often use Civilians for undercover or covert actions, especially if not from the US themselves, in foreign affairs. Americans on the other hand often join foreign forces in battle, many did during WWII on both sides...

[Genecks]

*ignores other posts*

 

The way I remember it, "YES." It's a DOA claim! Any American civilian is allowed to be a bounty hunter in order to catch him. This was a situation left over from the Bush Administration that I think Obama forgot to redesign or reclarify.

 

I think the WANTED poster was setup on the FBI website in 2001.

 

If we're living like it's 2001, it was approved, for what I last remembered.

 

Congress's approval was not obtained by the U.S. President (Bush) to obtain permission to attack, however, if I remember correctly, we are still at war with parts of the Middle East. I think Congress eventually gave the OK?

 

They are considered by the U.S. government, the enemy.

 

But time has passed, etc... I don't think the private mercenary should be charged with murder.

 

If he killed Bin Laden and came back to the states, he would receive a 1 million dollar reward, if I remember correctly.

The reason most people did not bite was because many people did not think it would be worth hunting him to receive 1 million dollars.

Nonetheless, times are pretty rough right now, so that sounds like a tempting deal.

Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, US government officials named bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture or death.[4][114] On July 13, 2007, this figure was doubled to $50 million.[115]

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden Edited June 30, 2010 by Genecks