Complications with the prosecution of crimes in space!

The Dhaka Times Desk The question came to the fore in a recent complaint to the US space agency (NASA). There, American astronaut Annie McClain was accused by her ex-spouse Summer Orden.

According to media reports, his allegation is that Annie hacked into Orden's bank account from space using a powerful computer network while stationed on the International Space Station (ISS). Not only that, Orden's bank transactions have also been secretly monitored! NASA has already started investigating the first 'crime' in space after receiving the complaint.

When a crime is committed on earth, every country has police, criminal laws and courts to prosecute criminals. However, if someone commits a crime in space, there will be a law and trial in the court - the answer to this question is not simple at all. First of all, it must be remembered that according to international law, space like oceans and 'Res Communis. That is, the world is not owned by everyone or owned by anyone - no country is supposed to claim sole ownership of this space or the moon-sun in space or any planet-star.

However, there are 5 international treaties in force for the conduct of space operations, the ownership of spacecraft and the control of astronauts inside spacecraft, one of which is the 'Outer Space Treaty' of 1967. According to this treaty, if a crime is actually committed by an astronaut aboard a spacecraft, the country that owns the spacecraft will have jurisdiction to try the crime. Needless to say, since there is no police or court in space, the astronaut's trial will begin only after he returns to Earth. The issue becomes complicated if the country of ownership of the spacecraft and the country of the astronaut are different. For example, an Australian astronaut on a US spaceship committed a crime and Australia wants to try its own citizen in its own country. Matters become more complicated when the crime takes place on the International Space Station. The reason is that it is not owned by any single country. The International Space Station (ISS) is owned by 5 countries – USA, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.

Here Europe is seen as one country. The intergovernmental agreement between these 5 countries in 1998 regarding the management of the space station states that the International Space Station, its equipment and the astronauts stationed in the station will be enforced based on the nationality of these countries' own laws. Therefore, if a Canadian citizen commits a crime on the space station, he or she will be subject to Canadian criminal law. Likewise, Russian astronauts will remain subject to Russian law. It is quite clear that since both the accused Annie McLain and the complainant Summer Orden are US citizens in the above-mentioned case, the case will be tried under the criminal law of the United States. If the two were citizens of a different country, the criminal law of the other country would apply unless the United States was interested in prosecution in its own country.

The difficulty is that different parts or modules of the International Space Station are owned by 5 different countries. Now the country of the astronauts and the part of the station where the crime was committed is owned by a different country, then which country's law will apply? That's a question. For example an astronaut named 'A' is a citizen of a country named 'A'. He stole the mobile phone of another astronaut named 'B' from country 'B' from a part of the space station that was originally owned by country 'C'. In this case, it is said that the decision will be taken on the basis of mutual discussion between the partner countries. But if an astronaut holds dual citizenship, in which country will he be judged? There is another problem - the territory of every country in the world is defined but there is no boundary in space. So the question of exactly from which height in the sky space or space-jurisdiction will begin-is still unclear.

Hacking into someone's bank account on Earth from space is the first crime committed in space and may not be a very serious crime considering its nature. But it opens the door to more important questions: What happens if someone commits a crime in space, such as murder, rape, hijacking or human rights violations? Or what are the legal consequences of conducting crimes on Earth while sitting in space? Space travel may still be limited to a handful of astronauts aboard NASA and the space station. But the potential of space tourism is getting brighter day by day.