As the international community ramps up its fight against rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia, the patrolling naval forces have started to capture pirates. As recently as January 2, 2009, France captured pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Because this is not the Age of Sail and international law does not allow summary executions, an important question emerges: what should be done with captured pirates. This question was the topic of an article I recently authored, “Protections Afforded to Captured Pirates under the Law of War and International Law” published in volume 33 of the Tulane Maritime Law Journal…
