‘Kill them all and let God sort them out’, or why religiously motivated terrorism should not be confused with the crime of genocide

Abstract

Due to the lack of a uniform, precise and universally acceptable legal definition of terrorism in international law, terrorist activity is sometimes perceived as a subcategory of international crimes, mainly war crimes or crimes against humanity, since the material scope of these crimes is relatively wide. It would be much more difficult to recognise a terrorist act as the crime of genocide, which is strictly defined in international law and is characterised by a closed catalogue of both acts recognised as genocidal and so-called ‘protected groups’. However, one of these protected groups is a religious group, and one of the most devastating and ruthless forms of terrorism is religiously motivated terrorism. Thus, at first glance, the deaths and destruction carried out by terrorists who are religious fanatics, by acts directed against dissenters, fall within the hallmark definition of ‘killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm’ to members of a religious group. The authors of this study, however, try to show that this conclusion is unfounded. The crime of genocide can only be committed with genocidal intent, constituting a characteristic, subjective element of this crime (dolus specialis). In actuality, religiously motivated terrorism, although it can be an offence against a particular religious group, is guided by completely different assumptions, and so is the goal terrorists intend to achieve.