Dear Editor:
I read with interest Mr. Zile Singh’s rather illuminating article, The Devil Does Not Love Holy Water: Balancing Terrorism and Human Rights (LINK – December 29, 2018). You offer a compelling argument regarding the two views about human rights: the universal view and the state-centered view. However, I am not sure that terrorists forfeit their human rights by committing heinous acts. Rather the right of the innocent who are threatened or seriously harmed outweigh or trump the right of the aggressor, namely the terrorists. Also, it is important to keep mind that states are not immune from moral and legal appraisal in their actions against terrorists.
Since you have an interest on issues related to counterterrorism, and in my book Terrorism Unjustified: The Use and Misuse of Political Violence I address some of the nuances related to moral, legal and political issues as applied to different aspects of terrorism and war, including the just war tradition and militant Islam, I am including the website describing the content of my book in case you care to look it up.
VM
Professor of Philosophy
Seton Hall University
