Latest news with #Franco-Syrian
Straits Times
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
France's top court rules arrest warrant for ex-Syrian leader Assad is invalid
FILE PHOTO: A billboard with a picture of Syria's Bashar al-Assad shows damage by bullet holes, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo PARIS - France's highest court ruled on Friday that an arrest warrant for former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was invalid as it was issued when he was still in office, but said a new warrant can now be issued as he is no longer a sitting head of state. French investigating magistrates had issued the warrant in November 2023 following a French investigation into chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian city of Douma and Eastern Ghouta district in August 2013 that killed more than 1,000 people. Then-President Assad's government denied using chemical weapons during the country's civil war that broke out in 2011. Assad was toppled in December last year by Islamist rebels whose leader is now the interim president. The Court of Cassation's decision overturns one made by the Paris Court of Appeal, which had ruled last year that the warrant was valid. Prosecutors, who would need to ask police to carry out the warrant, had challenged its validity. "International custom does not allow any exception to the personal immunity of a foreign head of state during the entire duration of their term in office, even when the alleged acts constitute genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity," the Court of Cassation said in a statement. "The arrest warrant issued at a time when this person was the head of state of Syria is therefore invalid ... However, an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity can now be issued since this person no longer holds the position of Head of State," it said. Separately, French officials issued a warrant in January against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes, notably the launch of a deliberate attack on civilians, as part of a inquiry into the case of Salah Abou Nabour, a Franco-Syrian national, who was killed in 2017 in a bombing strike in Syria. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore SMRT to pay lower fine of $2.4m for EWL disruption; must invest at least $600k to boost reliability Singapore MRT service changes needed to modify 3 East-West Line stations on Changi Airport stretch: LTA Singapore S'pore could have nuclear energy 'within a few years', if it decides on it: UN nuclear watchdog chief Asia Live: Thailand-Cambodia border clashes continue for second day Life 'Do you kill children?': Even before independence, S'pore has always loved its over-the-top campaigns Singapore Lung damage, poor brain development, addiction: What vaping does to the body Singapore Fine for couple whose catering companies owed $432,000 in salaries to 103 employees Singapore Kopi, care and conversation: How this 20-year-old helps improve the well-being of the elderly Assad fled to Russia in December 2024 when insurgent forces swept through the country in a lightening offensive, ending over 50 years of rule by his family. While arrest warrants against sitting heads of state are rare due to immunity protection, international law has exceptions when that leader is accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. France allows the filing of crimes against humanity cases in its courts. REUTERS
Ya Biladi
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Ya Biladi
Migrations and World Literatures : A global journey by Salim Jay
Migrations and World Literatures is the latest work by French-Moroccan writer and literary critic Salim Jay. In collaboration with the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) and published by La Croisée des Chemins, this book presents an anthology of novelists from around the world. Drawing from personal experiences and collected testimonies, they narrate «the intimate ins and outs of migration». The author continues his exploration of themes first addressed in Mediterranean Literatures and Migratory Horizons, expanding «towards Somalia and its connection to Italy, Iraq and Syria, not forgetting Cameroon and the United States, Mexico and Hungary, Senegal and Guinea», while also featuring writers from the Maghreb. «Readers will not be surprised by the candor and subtlety of Mohammed Khaïr Eddine recounting his return to Morocco. More surprising is discovering Badawi by the Franco-Syrian Mohed Altrad, now covered in gold, and the harsh reality once lived by George Orwell in Down and Out in Paris and London. Readers will be charmed by Miguel Torga with Senhor Ventura, who takes us to China, and moved by I Did Not Want to Leave by Abdoulaye Soumah, among three dozen fraternal voices that make up Migrations and World Literatures», notes the publisher. Salim Jay particularly questions «the idea that we are human beings and that Earth is our address», hoping to «one day legitimize that no one, anywhere, is confined to their home». Until «the world becomes the country of all and the countries of the world open to everyone», Jay offers a journey through literatures. This anthology is part of that journey, constituting «an invitation to read others, all others, without discrimination, just as we would like it to be possible to approach and welcome others without discrimination».
The National
13-03-2025
- Politics
- The National
Syrian poet and diplomat Nour Al-Din Labad killed after returning to his hometown from France
A prominent Franco-Syrian activist has been killed in Daraa, days after he returned to his hometown, The National understands. Nour Al-Din Labad, a former Syrian diplomat who defected from the Assad regime in the early years of the civil war was killed on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen. Mr Labad, who held a PhD in French literature and lived in exile in France, had become the opposition coalition's (SNC) representative there during the civil war. He returned to his hometown of Sanamayn in Daraa province recently, despite security concerns and clashes between the government's forces and militias linked to Muhsin Al Haimad, a former regime loyalist who has entrenched his men there. The killing was confirmed by his associate Bashar Hajj Ali, a Brussels-based representative of the SNC, who added that the funeral took place on Wednesday. The new authorities entered Sanamayn earlier this month, capturing dozens of Mr Al Haimad's men. Those close to Mr Labad believe his killing was by gunmen linked to Mr Al Haimad, who held him responsible for the government's intervention in Daraa. Mr Hajj Ali said he had spoken to Mr Labad just days before the attack. 'He wanted to be home with his family. I told him he would be safer in Damascus, he said he felt safe and that everything so far had been fine,' he told The National. Mr Labad was also a poet who wrote about revolution, war and exile. Of his return to Sanamayn earlier this month, he wrote on social media: "Fifty-five years ago, here in this pool, my grandfather taught me to swim, and here I used to herd the cows with him. I know every rock, rock by rock, every stone, stone by stone, and the waterways and pools, and how the hissing water used to flow." Videos on social media show he was celebrated by locals holding up Syria's new revolutionary flag when he returned to Sanamayn. France has granted asylum to around 30,000 Syrians since the start of a civil war in 2011. The government last month allowed them to return home temporarily without losing their refugee status. Asylum is normally withdrawn if a person returns to their home country. Under French law, this means they are on longer in need of France's protection. Syrians living in France have previously told The National that while they are keen to visit family after more than a decade of separation, they are unsure whether the country will remain stable enough for them to return in the long-term. France had cut off ties with the former Assad regime, but French diplomats have regularly been travelling back and forth to Damascus since the rebel take-over in December. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot was among the most vocal of the EU's 27 countries in calling for a lifting of transport and energy sanctions against Syria – a move greenlighted by Brussels last month. The EU's foreign ministers are set to examine further sanction lifting at a meeting in Brussels on Monday. European capitals will be watching closely how the new authorities in Damascus will implement justice in the case of killings such as that of Mr Labad's. The massacre of hundreds of Alawites on the Syrian coast in the past week has raised fears of a new civil war. The announcement by interim President Ahmad Al Shara that an independent investigative committee would look into the murders has been welcomed in Europe. But the view is also that it is not enough: killers must face justice so that trust in Mr Al Shara's government can be consolidated. 'Everything must be done to prevent any such crimes from happening again,' the EU's foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement on Tuesday on behalf of the EU. The bloc highlighted that its recent suspension of sanctions on Syria is a reversible process. Sanctions may be reinstated if the EU feels that Damascus does not respect the rights of minorities, women and the rule of law. 'The EU will continue to examine possible further sanctions suspensions on the basis of close monitoring of the situation in the country,' said the statement.
