Section 117, Civil Aviation Act, 2017 for an effective aviation safety and security

(1) The provisions contained in the convention for the Suppression of the Unlawful Seizure of Aircrafts signed at the Hague on the 16th day of December 1970 shall from the commencement of this Act have the force of law in Sierra Leone. (2) A person who on board an aircraft in flight unlawfully, by force or threat of force or by any other form of intimidation, seizes orexercises control of that aircraft, commits the offence of hijacking of that aircraft. (3) A person who attempts to commit an act referred to in subsection (2) in relation to an aircraft, or abets the commission of the act, is also deemed to have committed the offence of hijacking of the aircraft. (4) A person who commits the offence of hijacking shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for life and also to a fine of not less than One hundred United States Dollars (or its equivalent in Leones); (5) A person who, while committing the offence of hijacking of an aircraft, commits an act of violence against a passenger or member of the crew of the aircraft, is liable to the punishment imposed under any law for the time being in force in Sierra Leone if the act had been committed in Sierra Leone. (6) The High Courts of Sierra Leone shall have jurisdiction to try offenders under this section where - (a) the offence is committed on board an aircraft registered in Sierra Leone; (b) the aircraft on board which the offence is committed lands in Sierra Leone with the alleged offender(s) still on board; (c) the offence is committed on board an aircraft leased without crew to a lessee who has his principal place of business in Sierra Leone or if he has no principal place of business, his permanent residence is in Sierra Leone; and (d) the offence is committed on board a non- Sierra Leone registered aircraft while such an aircraft is within the territory of the Republic of Sierra Leone.