International Standards for Detaining Terrorism Suspects: Moving Beyond the Armed Conflict-Criminal Divide

Although sometimes described as war, the fight against transnational jihadi groups (referred to for shorthand as the fight against terrorism ) largely takes place away from any recognizable battlefield. Terrorism suspects are captured in houses, on street corners, and at border crossings around the globe. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the high-level Qaeda operative who planned the September 11 attacks, was captured by the Pakistani government in a residence in Pakistan. Abu Omar, a radical Muslim imam, was apparently abducted by U.S. and Italian agents off the streets of Milan. And Abu Baker Bashir, the spiritual leader of the Qaeda-affiliated group responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings, was arrested in a hospital in Indonesia. Once captured, these suspects face a host of possible futures: they might be deported to their states of nationality; they might be criminally prosecuted for offenses under national law; they might be transferred to a foreign state for detention and interrogation; or they might be detained for extended periods in national detention facilities, like the U.S. facility at Guantdnamo Bay, Cuba