9.—(1) Subject to subsections (3) to (5), a person is guilty of the offence of hostage-taking if he or she, in or outside the State—

(a) seizes or detains another person (“the hostage”), and

(b) threatens to kill, injure or continue to detain the hostage,

in order to compel a state, an international intergovernmental organisation, a person or a group of persons to do, or abstain from doing, any act.

(2) Subject to subsections (3) to (5), a person who attempts to commit an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) apply to an act committed outside the State if—

(a) the act is committed on board an Irish ship,

(b) the act is committed on an aircraft registered in the State,

(c) the act is committed by a citizen of Ireland or by a stateless person habitually resident in the State,

(d) the act is committed in order to compel the State to do or abstain from doing an act, or

(e) the hostage is a citizen of Ireland.

(4) Subsections (1) and (2) apply also to an act committed outside the State in circumstances other than those referred to in subsection (3), but in that case the Director of Public Prosecutions may not take, or consent to the taking of, proceedings referred to in section 43(2) for an offence in respect of that act except as authorised by section 43(3).

(5) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply in respect of any act of hostage-taking that constitutes an offence under section 3 of the Geneva Conventions Act 1962.

(6) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.