The Use of Unconventional Weapons on the Viewpoints of International Criminal and Islamic Law

Abstract

Abstract War crime, as an international criminal act, has many forms which has been criminalized by the international criminal court statute. Some instances of war crime that have been internationally criminalized concern to the use of some kind of weapons in an international conflict. This category is often called unusual weapons, in contrast to Conventional Weapons, which contains several different types of chemical weapons, biological weapons, nuclear weapons and instances of firing explosive shells, which inflict unnecessary pain and suffering. The use of any types of unconventional weapons by perpetrator, considered as intentional crimes in some international documents, including the statute of the International Criminal Court. In these intentional crimes, in addition to the will to commit the crimes, the perpetrator need to be aware of circumstances. Islamic jurisprudence has imposed some restrictions and bans on the use of warfare instruments. Illegitimacy of using some military equipment as a general rule applicable to several instances, is an elementary principle. Hence, Islamic teachings and religious orders can be resorted to ban the use of these types of weapons as may be cited in various international documents, which contain the rules and norms of humanitarian law. This descriptive–analytic study shows that the theoretical foundations of the Prevention and Punishment of the use of unconventional weapons, are supported by similar rules in both Islamic law and international criminal system. These rules are based on the logic of rational religious law and the interests of human society.

Keywords

• keywords: : war crime
• unconventional weapon
• mass killing
• islamic law
• international criminal law