Hostage is a person held prisoner to force fulfillment of a demand. If the demand is not met, the hostage may be killed. The taking of hostages is illegal under both international law and the laws of individual nations. The physical mistreatment of hostages is also illegal but is considered a separate crime.
Most hostage taking occurs in connection with other crimes or as a result of political struggles. A bank robber, for example, may seize hostages and threaten to kill them unless the police allow him or her to escape. Hijackers of a ship or airplane may hold passengers and crew hostage to obtain such goals as a ransom payment or transportation to a safe destination. Kidnappers, too, sometimes hold their victims for ransom.
Hijackers and other terrorists often take hostages to demand a certain action by a government. In 1979, Iranian revolutionaries seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and held a group of Americans hostage. The revolutionaries demanded that the deposed shah of Iran be returned to the country for trial in exchange for the hostages. The shah died in 1980, but the Americans were not released until 1981.
During wartime, countries have sometimes taken civilians as hostages. During World War II (1939-1945), for example, Germany sought to control underground resistance forces by taking hostages in France, Poland, and other occupied countries. Such hostage taking is illegal under international law. It is distinguished from the lawful action of taking enemy soldiers as prisoners of war.
In ancient and medieval times, nations often exchanged hostages to guarantee that both sides would carry out the terms of a treaty. The hostages, who were nobles or other important people, were treated as honored guests. But they could be executed if the treaty was broken.
