Fighting with the Enemy

The three British prisoners released in March 2004 from Guantanamo Bay brings to the limelight the question of how to deal, in an English setting, with such individuals when they return home, after allegedly fighting on the side of a party which is at war with the United Kingdom. The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the action by the coalition forces in Afghanistan against the al-Qaeda organisation and the Taliban militia that harboured it has affected the thinking of most of those engaged in the study and practice of international law. Several areas of international law need to be revisited with a view to clarifying and developing the relevant applicable rules. This, however, is outside the ambit of the present study. The focus of this article will be an examination of the availability of possible charges which the Crown in the UK could bring against Shafiq Rasil, Ruhal Ahmed and Asif Iqbal, the so-called ‘Tipton Three’. Our attention will be primarily directed to the offence of treason. Thereafter, attention will turn to the treatment of mercenaries under international law. This will be followed by a brief assessment of the applicability of the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870.1 1. (UK) 33 & 34 Vict, c 90

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