It seems I read articles from time to time describing how some foreign (to me) official is calling for the death of an author, cartoonist, or hack YouTube producer. And I have a general understanding that it is illegal in the US - and probaly most other countries where I might choose to visit - to pay someone to “off” someone disagreeable. But really, if Kickstarter or something similar were to post a fundraiser to incent the assassination of some scumbag like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and setting aside the moral and ethical issues, is there a way it could be done legally?
18 USC 1116 prohibits the murder of foreign officials without respect to where the crime may take place (see paragraph ©).
However, 18 USC 1117 which provides punishments for conspiracies to murder does NOT apply to a conspiracy to murder a foreign official. That’s interesting.
No, 18 USC 1117 states that
So that applies to conspiracy to violate 1116 (“Murder or manslaughter of foreign officials, official guests, or internationally protected persons”).
There’s also a separate offense under Chapter 45 (“Foreign Relations”) of Title 18; 18 USC 956 “Conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country” which provides for punishments for anyone who"within the jurisdiction of the United States, conspires with one or more other persons, regardless of where such other person or persons are located, to commit at any place outside the United States an act that would constitute the offense of murder, kidnapping, or maiming if committed in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States shall, if any of the conspirators commits an act within the jurisdiction of the United States to effect any object of the conspiracy".