Indians board US flagged yacht in International waters and send crew to UAE

[Fr J Hackett]

I think you will be subject to the law of the country you are in at the time of the alleged incident. You may be subject to the laws of the flag state of the vessel you are in while in international waters, but equally the vessel will be subject to arrest if it has been alleged to be involved in criminal activity at a previous port or in someone’s territorial waters.

And that just about sums it up.

 

[Blue Sunray]

The Telegraph's take on this:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...nister-authorised-secret-operation-intercept/

 

[Vega1447]

Anyone who takes 5 minutes to read the available material on this business will conclude that it was kidnapping & piracy to protect the "reputation" of an alleged abuser.

Who conveniently owns a small country.

Dubai is (in Trump's words) a ****hole country and India (given their despicable involvement in this) isn't much better.

 

[Loopy]

Dubai is (in Trump's words) a ****hole country

This. I remember my dad telling me a story in the 70s about a colleague and his wife who went to Dubai. She was kidnapped at gunpoint by armed men, he was given 24 hours to get out of the country or face execution. He worked like hell with the state department to try and find her, but never did.

Sensible people don't go to those places.

 

[capnsensible]

I cannot understand how this has not caused an international incident. According to the report a French/US national picked up a Princess (UAE national - she paid him) from a beach in Oman and sailed for five days. The boat was tracked by air and then boarded in International waters off India and the crew ruffed up, threatened with death and then transported to the UAE and it seems neither the USA nor French governments are keen to take us this outrage. As a US flagged vessel no nation has the right to intercept or hinder a vessel in any way other than that of the vessels flag.


There is good coverage of the incident:-

http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/stirli...live-and-has-been-taken-back-to-dubai-2444740

http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/stirli...can-national-desperate-video-released-2443209

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-beaten-commandos-enforcing-Islamic-law.html

Bunch of Cowboys.

 

[AndrewB]

This just isn't true. There are about 5 or 6 motives which enable a vessel to be challenged on the high seas eg suspected slavery abductions, drug running etc.

If the interception is found not to be justified the stopped vessel may sue for damages. (UNCLOS)

Wish I'd known that 25 years ago.

I was stopped and boarded around midnight by the US coastguard while sailing across the Caribbean over 100 miles from nearest land. I did ask what authority they had to interrogate a British yacht in international waters. "There is international co-operation in these matters" was the reply, implying they had UK authority to do so. You don't argue with four heavily armed men in full paramilitary gear, and what the 'matters' were I was never told. They left quite quickly with only the most perfunctory inspection. It was quite a scary experience though, specially at night.