Abstract:
This Article explores the feasibility of prosecuting terrorism in
international tribunals considering, respectively, the above three principles.
Part I shows that terrorism comprises willful acts of violence directed against
civilians with the intent to spread terror within a civilian population, plus the
further intent for such terror to be the instrument through which the
perpetrators seek to intimidate the powers that be into submitting to certain
(mostly) political, ideological, or religious demands. Part II shows that the
subject matter jurisdiction of some, but not all, international tribunals includes
international terrorism. Part III seeks to discredit the view that a certain noble
cause can legitimize terror violence as an instrument to realize such causes.