Publication: Detention of Suspected Terrorists in Connection with Armed Conflict: A Focus on Release and Repatriation

Abstract:

Detention of suspected terrorists in times of armed conflict poses a unique challenge because of the difficulties in discerning the end of armed conflicts involving designated terrorist groups. Doctrinal works have largely focused on the applicable framework, legal basis, and grounds for detention and internment in such situations, but the question of release and repatriation of detainees has been largely neglected. These issues are crucial to avoid potentially indefinite deprivation of liberty. The chapter looks into the different stages of security detention and the relevant procedural safeguards from the perspective of different legal frameworks, namely the international humanitarian law of international and non-international armed conflicts, human rights law, and counterterrorism law, and offers practical guidance for a law-compliant internment regime that also allows States to protect their legitimate security concerns.

Pavle Kilibarda and Gloria Gaggioli, Detention of Suspected Terrorists in Connection with Armed Conflict: A Focus on Release and Repatriation In: Prisoners of War in Contemporary Conflict. Edited by: Michael N. Schmitt and Christopher J. Koschnitzky, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197663288.003.0012