An Analysis of the Achille Lauro Affair: Towards an Effective and Legal Method of Bringing International Terrorists to Justice

This Note will propose five steps towards establishing an effective method of bringing terrorists to justice. Part I of this Note will detail the facts surrounding the Achille Lauro incident. Part II will discuss the laws governing extradition, including the obligations of Egypt and the United States arising under the United States-Egypt Extradition Treaty, the Convention Against the Taking of Hostages, and the doctrine of mala captus bene delentus. Part III will also discuss the international community\u27s historical inability to define terrorism. Part III will examine the legal precedent for acts of abduction. Part IV details the criticism of the use of abduction as an alternative to extradition, and examines the threat abduction poses to the international legal system, which depends upon voluntary compliance to be effective