About This Course
Presented by a former war crimes prosecutor, the Star Wars original trilogy continues with this third and final installment. Amongst the scenes being offered for law-of-war analysis, the course will begin with the film’s opening scene, where Leia and then Luke Skywalker confront Jabba the Hutt. Is this an act of unconventional warfare? Does the law of armed conflict apply here?
The course then takes up the moment when the Rebels find out about the new Death Star and determine that they must target its Endor-based shield generator. They manage to convince the Ewoks, a tribe of native resembling teddy bears, that their god is among them and that they should join the Rebellion. Beyond the questionable religious morality, is that a lawful PYSOPS operation or a war crime?
The Ewoks themselves engage in a number of legally questionable actions, including their use of booby traps and IEDs. They establish an ambush around C3PO's false surrender, and when the movie concludes they are seen barbequing some of their stormtrooper detainees.
The course will finally take up Luke Skywalker’s surrender, detention, and interrogation as an Imperial Forces POW, as well as Darth Vader's decision to intervene in the commission of a war crime by stopping the Emperor's attempt to extrajudicially execute Luke.
