Diplomatic immunity ...?

Question

If a suicide bomber happens to be a diplomat and they claim diplomatic immunity ... will they get it by right or can it be waived ?

Answer 1

If a diplomat was a suicide bomber then diplomatic immunity wouldn't matter a fig, cause whichever country they were from we'd be at war with. Diplomats are the embodiment of a country - one blowing themself up is an act of war.

Answer 2

Officially, no country condones terrorism (whether that is actually true or not is a separate issue). So if a suicide bomber was revealed to be a diplomat, and presuming he's not dead, the country he represents will most likely either waive immunity and allow local prosecution, or call him back and prosecute him themselves. Most of the time, suicide bombers are as much a threat to the government of the country they come from as they are to the country they bomb.

Answer 3

I think that if a high ranking diplomat committed an act such as this, then it would be interpreted as an act of war. There are certain situations which cannot be overlooked by the host country. A couple of decades ago there was a major incident in the Iranian Embassy building in London where 6 gunmen held 26 people hostage.The hostage takers were principally demanding independence for an area within Iran called Khuzestan but their demands changed as time progressed to include the release of fellow terrorists being held in Iranian jails.

The events were key fuel in the lead up to the Iran –Iraq war as it emerged that the individuals had been funded and trained for the mission by the Iraq government. The gunmen had been told by the Iraqi government that a Jordanian ambassador would take personal responsibility for their safe passage out of the Iranian Embassy and back home. However, it was soon very clear to the gunmen that these promises were false and that there would be no way of this happening. For this reasons, their plans fell apart and the situation with the Iranian Embassy became extremely dangerous and culminated in the killing of an Iranian hostage on day six of the siege.

At this point it was necessary for the SAS to intervene to save the situation. Events at the Iranian Embassy thus fell under the watchful eye of the media and the activities of SAS personnel as they stormed the building were under close scrutiny.The intervention led to 19 of the hostages being saved and five of the gunmen being killed. Events at the Iranian Embassy then came under detailed scrutiny when it emerged that two of the gunmen had surrendered – and thrown down their weapons, yet were still killed by SAS personnel.

I think in the light of such previous incidents as this that there would be immediate diplomatic moves for the foreign government to deny any involvement in the matter and take all necessary action to prove their point, including the removal of other embassy staff and the payment of compensation to victims of the outrage as a voluntary gesture of goodwill.

Answer 4

This is a trick question, right? What would a *suicide* bomber want with diplomatic immunity?

Answer 5

diplomatic immunity can be revoked by the diplomats home country and in a case like this it is likely that a diplomats home country would revoke the immunity rather than risk an international incident. Also, diplomats can be put on trial in their home country for crimes committed during diplomatic service abroad

Answer 6

Everyone is pally with Gen Gaddafi now, why don't they ask for a revoke of the diplomatic immunity of the staff of the Libyan Embassy when Yvonne Fletcher was killed. I'm sure that was her name, The police woman shot from a window of the embassy.
Let's see how friendly he really is to the west.

Answer 7

If they are caught before they detonate the diplomatic immunity will be waived.

Answer 8

If he is a real suicide bomber bring back Jack Ruby I would say and forget about any immunity.

Answer 9

i don't know how this issue of diplomatic immunity works.

if it was a failed bomb attempt i would hope the country would surrender the person - as no country wants to be directly linked to terrorists

Answer 10

Would it really matter, a SUICIDE bomber can't be charged with a crime. We don't prosecute the dead, regardless of how henious they were in life.