Advisory Opinion To The International Court Of — страница 2

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At present, Bin Laden controls a comprehensive international terrorist network, all financed through Bin Laden s personal fortune. His headquarters are located in Afghanistan, and are protected by numerous Taliban soldiers. While tensions between Bin Laden and Taliban members have become strained since August 1998, he nonetheless has remained free from capture to this point. However, Security Council Resolution 1267 does indeed call for Afghanistan to turn him over to the proper international authorities. Bin Laden is officially a man without a country, as Saudi Arabia pulled his passport in 1994 amidst allegations of financing subversive activities in Egypt, Algeria, and Yemen. Bin Laden fled to Sudan, where he began working with the National Islamic Front (NIF), led by Hassan

al-Turabi. While in the Sudan, he financed three terrorist training camps in cooperation with the NIF (ERRI, June 1998). After May 1996, his exact whereabouts have been unknown, with rumors placing him in places such as Yemen, in Saudi Arabia with a false passport, even captured by the Afghanistan government. Bin Laden issued three Fatwas calling for a Holy War against U.S. Forces in April 1996, February 1997, and February 1998. He is currently suspected in acts including the World Trade Center bombing, a Saudi Arabian National Guard base in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (MSNBC, 10/12/99). III. Applicability of International Law Current international law, even precedence established by this very court, indicates that the process of bringing Osama

Bin Laden to trial is legal. Numerous conventions and treaties support this action, both globally and regionally as well. The first convention which applies is the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic Agents, brought into effect on February 20, 1977, with 26 signatories and 126 parties to it. This convention can be applied specifically to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Article I of the Convention defines internationally protected persons as any representative or official of a State or any official or other agent of an international organization of an intergovernmental character who, at the time when and in the place where a crime against him, his official premises, his

private accommodation or his means of transport is committed, is entitled pursuant to international law to special protection from any attack on his person, freedom or dignity, as well as members of his family forming part of his household. Bearing in mind the fact that these bombings did occur at official buildings, these acts fall under this convention. Article 7 further states that the nation-state which houses the alleged offender shall either extradite him for trial or hold a trial on their own soil. This treaty lays out the definition of protected persons and establishes a code of conduct for bringing such criminals to trial. The next convention that holds precedence in this situation is that of the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings. The

convention provides for one exemption: if the alleged act occurs within a state in which the offender and the victims both reside and the alleged offender is still in the state. For example, the bombing of the U.S. Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is an example of an act that is exempt from the provisions of the convention. However, Osama Bin Laden does not fall under this exemption. Therefore, Articles 5, 6, and 7 directly apply to the situation at hand. Furthermore, Article 9 supplements Article 7 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic Agents. Bearing in mind that both of the conventions are entered into force, nation-states are to be held accountable to them, including Afghanistan.

Finally, the Convention on the Organization of the Islamic Conference on Combating International Terrorism, ratified in Tehran in December 1997 at a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, can be directly be applied to Afghanistan, as they were one of the principal signatories to it. This convention not only reiterates support for the previous conventions mentioned here, but for numerous others as well. This convention uses all previous international treaties regarding terrorism as precedence, and then builds on them. Furthermore, this Convention does not call for the application of Islamic law over Anglo-Saxon law. Since the OIC Convention does not conflict with international law conventions previously established by the United Nations, Afghanistan is further