ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that forcible abduction is prohibited by human rights law and that, therefore, United States courts should refuse to accept jurisdiction over a criminal defendant who has been abducted into the United States. International procedures exist for rendition of persons suspected of criminal offenses. In 1986 Israel abducted an Israeli named Mordechai Vanunu in Italy and tried him for treason and espionage, offenses that are not extraditable because of their political nature. In 1986 United States President Ronald Reagan authorized procedures for the forcible abduction of suspected terrorists from other countries, for trial in the United States, the operations to be undertaken by the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1985 a United States military aircraft forced down an Egyptian aircraft over international waters, containing persons accused by the United States in the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea.
