Israeli blockade runner attack legal, say marine lawyers

ISRAEL`s attack on the blockade runner Mavi Marmaris has been deemed legal, according to maritime lawyers contacted by Lloyd`s List of London.

Most often cited as justification for the Monday`s attack, which left nine blockade runners dead, was the San Marino Memorandum on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea.



"Merchant vessels flying the flag of neutral states may not be attacked unless they are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture," says the San Remo Manual, compiled in 1994.



But one lawyer said the manual goes on to say: "It is forbidden to employ methods or means of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering."



There have been questions that Israel might be charged with piracy, but this was dismissed in the Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which defines piracy as "illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft".



Said Ince & Co partner Stephen Askins: "This was clearly an action of a state, which regarded itself as having the legitimate right to do this. What would distinguish this from piracy would be the motive, which is not criminal."