The recent political assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai has raised the issue of state terrorism – Governments using cold-blooded murder to eliminate political opponents. The specter of state sponsored killings harks back to an age of lawlessness where the law of the jungle reigns supreme. Intelligence agencies, spy drones, car bombs are just some of the means states have used to kill political adversaries and with them family members, wives and children as well as bystanders. Such assassinations avoid due process and the rule of law: holding trials, calling …