Piracy

Maritime transport has become significant as the backbone of global trade and, consequently, globalization, which is the basis of the globalizing project of the economy, which, with an attitude of dependence on the development of countries and the international maritime trade, lends more importance to maritime trade. Securing maritime trade, with the emergence of recent insecurity as the most important concern for the countries that benefit from this, is one of the most important options for world trade due to its high transport capability, low cost and ease of transportation. As a result of the vast dependence of countries on maritime trade, there are various problems, such as piracy and environmental pollution, which, in turn, has become a global downfall. Modern piracy has new patterns. Although the nature of the crime is the very essence of this activity, the context for replacing these changes is to be considered. Piracy and robbery not only can stop the logistics chain from leading to economic consequences, but also it will lead to the loss of life, short-term and long-term health problems for seafarers and travelers; the consequences that require more analysis. In this article, we have tried to investigate the history of piracy and analyze the pathology of this global problem and provide solutions for the issue.

On 15 February 2012, two Indian nationals aboard the St. Antony, an Indian fishing ship, were killed allegedly as a result of gunshot wounds following a confrontation with the Enrica Lexie, an Italian merchant ship, in international waters, off the Indian coast. The nature of the confrontation has been in contention. Enrica Lexie was traveling from Singapore to Egypt accompanied by six Italian navy marines. Enrica Lexie began firing at India's Exclusive Economic Zone because they thought pirate boats attacked them. Indian Navy detained the Enrica Lexie and two Italian navy Marines were arrested on charges of murder of two Indian fishermen. This incident caused the dispute between India and Italy over criminal jurisdiction, functional immunity of Italian navy marines, and the practice of arming merchant ships. They refer this dispute to arbitration and finally, Tribunal issued its award. This paper via the descriptive-analytical method, exploring existing documents, conventions, and customary international law shows that criminal jurisdiction over Italian merchant ships at EEZ belongs to the flag state. Most countries permit and even force to arm their flag merchant ships to fight against pirates, so this practice becomes a rule of customary international law. As a result, actions of these Italian marines are attributed to Italy as a governmental act, and state officials are entitled, in principle, to functional immunity from foreign jurisdiction regarding their ‘official’ acts, i.e., when acting in their official capacity.

The crime of piracy as the oldest international crime has emerged in a modern way in recent years. In addition, piracy is one of the first and main crimes that have been subject to universal jurisdiction. Today, this crime has moved away from its classic way and has progressed to the point of a transformation. This has caused the United Nations Security Council, as the main pillar of maintaining international peace and security, to deal with it many times by issuing resolutions. Despite continuous efforts to prosecute the perpetrators of piracy in domestic courts, the international community has not been able to effectively deal with this phenomenon, because states are facing problems to suppress piracy, including the increasing human rights norms. For this purpose to fight against piracy, new and potential solutions have been proposed, including the establishment of a special international court, referring piracy to the International Criminal Court, as well as dealing with the crime of piracy as a terrorist crime through anti-terrorist conventions. In this regard, according to outcomes of this research, combat to modern piracy in the International Criminal Court can be considered the most effective and efficient way. Compiled with a descriptive and analytical method, by setting this outcome as a hypothesis and examining the characteristics and the limitations of combat to this crime, new and potential solutions of combat to impunity of modern piracy, especially in International Criminal Court, has been discussed.

From ancient times, piracy has been known as an enemy of humanity and an international crime. One of the areas that has become the main center of piracy in recent years is the Gulf of Guinea . Due to the discovery and exploitation of rich oil resources, and the high traffic of oil tanker ships and other fishing and cargo ships, this area has been considered by pirates and has made maritime security confronted with a serious threat. According to statistics, between 2009 and 2021, about 265 cases of pirate attacks on ships have been reported in this region, which is regarded as the highest figure in the whole. The main question is, what are the effective causes of the creation and expansion of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea? And what solutions are there to confront this phenomenon? In response to this question, the hypothesis is that regional differences and the political, economic and social situations of the coastal states are the most important reasons in the spread of piracy in this region, and regional and extra-regional measures to confront it are inevitable. But the weakness of the countries in the region in securing the sea fleet, widespread unemployment, conflicts between countries in delimiting the borders of the sea, have made it difficult to fight against piracy in this region. The findings of this research show that identifying and eliminating the various factors involved in the occurrence of this crime depends on efforts beyond diplomatic cooperation. The lack of similarity between criminal measures and especially the obvious difference in the political conditions of the countries of the region compared to other regions facing the phenomenon of piracy, such as the case of the Gulf of Aden, makes it impossible to apply a similar solution to the Gulf of Guinea.

Piracy or the use of violence by various types of ships or vessels to take the property of the passengers of other ships or vessels has been one of the important maritime threats from the past until today. During the Middle Ages until the 19 th century, due to the flourishing sea trade, in the Indian Ocean, this phenomenon was widespread, but few scattered reports of it have remained. This research aims to explain the geographical and cultural relationship between the history and modern forms of piracy in the Indian Ocean, to provide a constructive analysis of the roots of piracy nowadays. Based on this, in this research, with a library method and a descriptive-analytical method, and by referring to the most important historical sources and research, scattered reports of piracy during the first to thirteenth centuries AH were analyzed. At the same time, by using analytical studies in cultural criminology, an attempt has been made to analyze this phenomenon from the perspective of deterministic theories and subcultures. Thus, it has been shown that the geography and aspects of the piracy culture in the Indian Ocean are consistent with this phenomenon today. It has also been shown that the inclusive Iranian governments have played the most effective role in fighting this phenomenon; it has been suggested that in today's approach to the phenomenon of piracy, the cultural view of the social and political roots of this phenomenon should be considered. In dealing with it, the fundamental methods of the cultural solution should be used in confrontation with the phenomenon, together with legal and military actions. It has also been suggested that the Iranian government should play a trans-regional cultural effort to revive its historical role in controlling this phenomenon.          

In recent decades, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been struggling with piracy security threats and has suffered a lot. The piracy crisis and the presence of pirates in international waters have become one of the main crises facing the Iranian economy. Considering Iran's determination to develop its maritime transit and obtaining a larger share of the transit of free waters, attention has been paid to the issue of maritime security and the investigation of the phenomenon of piracy and ways of coping with it. Iran, like other members of the international community and following the resolutions of the Security Council, considers the threat of piracy, especially Somali pirates, to be a threat to itself, and through the navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran's military, a combination of legal, political-military measures in the form of Defense diplomacy has taken to deal with it. This article seeks to answer the question of what role the Iran Navy has played in countering the threat of piracy security within the framework of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and in accordance with international law. The findings of this paper indicate that Iran Navy has been in charge of maritime security in the last decade to deal with this security threat and has been able to reliably restrain these threats by legal, political, military mechanisms. And it has a relatively successful performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of the background and conceptual evolution of piracy and to discover its various forms throughout human history and the legal and international status of the fight against piracy and the actions taken by the Iran Navy in the context of IONS to ensure maritime safety.

Modern piracy poses a significant challenge to global stability, jeopardizing international order and creating insecurity on the world's waterways. While reminiscent of traditional piracy, contemporary piracy manifests in distinct forms that diverge from its classical antecedent, particularly in terms of violence, the breadth of activities, methods employed, and underlying motives. Currently, the jurisdiction over these offenses rests with domestic courts. Despite the concerted efforts of the international community to prosecute perpetrators within these courts, both governments and international law have encountered considerable obstacles in achieving success. A particularly contentious issue is the jurisdictional complexities faced by governments during legal proceedings. In light of various United Nations Security Council resolutions, the concept of universal jurisdiction has evolved, albeit subject to diverse interpretations. The Islamic Republic of Iran has adopted specific procedural frameworks to address this issue. In accordance with Iranian law, both universal and territorial as well as personal jurisdictions are invoked to combat the immunity associated with modern piracy. The provisions articulated in Articles 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 of the Islamic Penal Code unequivocally indicate that the Islamic Republic of Iran possesses substantial jurisdiction over individuals accused of modern piracy. Nevertheless, it is evident that legislative capacity remains underutilized, particularly concerning the existing gaps and deficiencies in the definitions and punitive measures related to piracy within the Islamic Penal Code. This has inadvertently resulted in piracy being perceived as a subset of other criminal offenses. Nonetheless, Iranian courts, grounded in the principles of universality, territoriality, and personal jurisdiction as delineated in the aforementioned Articles of the Islamic Penal Code, do indeed possess the requisite authority to adjudicate piracy cases.

Throughout history, mankind has always been involved in numerous crises, including war and bloodshed and its consequences and adverse effects. Establishing peace and resolving conflicts has always been the concern of thinkers, and based on this, two main views in this regard have proposed different opinions and viewpoints on the axis of "authenticity of peace" or "just war". In the meantime, sea banditry or piracy, which has a very old history and is as old as the history of human domination of the sea, has become a serious threat in recent years due to reasons such as the change in the behavior pattern of pirates, which often takes hostages and blackmail. It is considered for international trade. This crime, which is one of the first international crimes with universal jurisdiction, has always been the subject of debate among thinkers of different legal systems. One of the important topics in this field is how to make peace or conduct a just war with this phenomenon. The Islamic legal system and international law have presented mostly similar and sometimes different views in this context, so it is necessary to apply and research the jurisprudential teachings related to the principles and regulations of international law. Therefore, in this treatise, the subject of "comparative analysis of countering "sea piracy" from the perspective of just war in Islamic jurisprudence and international law has been discussed. In this research, which was carried out using descriptive and analytical methods and using library sources and texts, these results were obtained that today the issue of war as an important issue and challenge in the international arena has limitations and only when its position as a Acceptable discourse is accepted as a just war. Therefore, according to the principles of international law and the actions taken by sea pirates, in many cases it has many similarities with the title of war in Islamic jurisprudence, and their behavior and actions, which often lead to the deprivation of the security of the seas, can be compared to He knew it as war. However, observing the principles of just war in both the Islamic legal system and international law is necessary and necessary.