Re: About where should the terrorists be tried.

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: Thank you for your questions. Under recognized bases of when a state may exercise its jurisdiction, a state certainly has the power to try alleged terrorists in its national courts when that state was the object of the terrorist act or threat. This is simply an application of the "Territorial theory" of jurisdiction to prescribe in international law. In addition, under a theory of "Passive Personality," also called "Passive Nationality," a state may apply its laws to address those terrorist acts directed against its nationals, even where the terrorist acts were to occur off its soil. That is, extraterritorially. In both cases, the state must also possess what we call "jurisdiction to enforce" which means it has custody over the alleged terrorist, or has the lawful ability to acquire custody of the alleged terrorist, usually by the process of extradition. : With regard to your second question, the use of military tribunals to try accused terrorists is somewhat controversial in that it does not provide the full safeguards a defendant enjoys in the civilian criminal courts and is somewhat limited by important obligation of the Geneva Conventions on the rules of warfare. On the other hand, many people would agree that trials of terrorists carry with them special security concerns such as the confidentially of sensitive intelligence information and the safety of juries and witnesses that justify the use of such restrictive tribunals. : I am not sure what you mean by an "international military tribunal" but I suppose the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crimes tribunals after World War II would classify as such. I am not aware of any serious suggestion to establish such tribunals to try terrorists at the present time. One can envision, however, such a suggestion made by those who would seek, for various reasons, to deprive the U.S. of its exercise of national jurisdiction. : Thank you for your inquiry. : Howard S. Schiffman, J.D., LL.M. : Co-Founder and Administrator : www.InternationalLawHelp.com : : 1. Should the international terrorists who committe crimes in the U.S. be tried in a civil court or in military tribunal, regardless about where they committed the crimes? : : 2. Is "military tribunal" and "internaltional military tribunal" the same thing?

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