LONDON: Amid the clamour for Osama bin Laden: wanted dead or alive”, the question of what will happen to Osama if he is captured alive remains to be answered. Under present law, there are three options open to Osama. First, he could await summary execution or capture by the CIA who - Bill Clinton admits - were ordered three years ago to assassinate him. In any event he faces the risk of being killed as the US steps up its war campaign.

Second, he could travel to a neighbouring country, which does not have an extradition treaty with the US. A third option would be to sneak into a country where he could try to avail himself of the formal legal procedures in place between the two governments.

The solution would be to hand Osama over to an international body, which could try and if necessary sentence him - most importantly in a way which would satisfy Muslims, and the victims, that justice had been done.

An alternative would involve the setting-up of a special tribunal. These have been established in the aftermath of various atrocities in recent years, such as Bosnia and Rwanda. However, a more realistic and credible option would be for the west to allow a trial by peers - under Islamic law. In 1998 the Taliban almost acceded to a delicately negotiated request for Osama to be handed over to Saudi Arabia to be detained and stand trial in an Islamic court on condition that he would avoid a US prosecution.

The final deal was scuppered following the bombings of the embassies in East Africa. The subsequent discovery that the US’s retaliatory missile attack on a pharmaceutical factory thought to be manufacturing chemical weapons was misconceived cast further doubt on America’s brand of justice.

After the recent attack in America, the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has suggested the appointment of a commission headed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China to investigate the evidence that the United States claims it has in relation to the Sept 11 bombings. This offer was rejected.

Muslims would recognise in Islamic law a paramount principle of maintaining and preserving life. Islamic law is sophisticated and has a variety of sources for its definition, interpretation and application.

Such a trial would serve as a benchmark, showing the Muslim world that its concerns were being taken seriously. It would also be an opportunity for those accused of acts of international terrorism and who maintain their innocence to opt for a trial under Islamic law, and thereby be given an opportunity to distinguish themselves as genuine dissidents rather than terrorists.

Until now, the west has been at pains to show that it has no quarrel with Islam. This would be an ideal opportunity for the west to demonstrate that Islam can exist as an equal in the world. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service.