Latest news with #SyrianCenterforMediaandFreedomofExpression
Local France
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Local France
France's top court annuls arrest warrant against Syria's Assad
The Court of Cassation ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. But its presiding judge, Christophe Soulard, added that, as Assad was no longer president after an Islamist-led group toppled him in December, "new arrest warrants can have been, or can be, issued against him" and as such the investigation into the case could continue. Human rights advocates had hoped the court would rule that immunity did not apply because of the severity of the allegations, which would have set a major precedent in international law towards holding accused war criminals to account. They said that, in this regard, it was a missed opportunity. "This ruling represents a setback for the global fight against impunity for the most serious crimes under international law," said Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, a civil party to the case. French authorities issued the warrant against Assad in November 2023 over his alleged role in the chain of command for a sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma outside Damascus. Assad is accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case. Syrian authorities at the time denied involvement and blamed rebels. Universal jurisdiction The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries. An investigation -- based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage -- led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher who headed an elite army unit, and two generals. Advertisement Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state. The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed. But in December, Assad's circumstances changed. He and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after Islamist-led fighters seized power from him. In January, French investigating magistrates issued a second arrest warrant against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Deraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian. 'Great victory' The Court of Cassation said Assad's so called "personal immunity", granted because of his office, meant he could not be targeted by arrest warrants until his ouster. But it ruled that "functional immunity", which is granted to people who perform certain functions of state, could be lifted in the case of accusations of severe crimes. Thus it upheld the French judiciary's indictment in another case against ex-governor of the Central Bank of Syria and former finance minister, Adib Mayaleh. Advertisement He has been accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity over alleged funding of the Assad government during Syria's civil war. Mayaleh obtained French nationality in 1993, and goes by the name Andre Mayard on his French passport. Darwish, the Syrian lawyer, said that part of the court's ruling was however a "great victory". "It establishes the principle that no agent of a foreign state, regardless of the position they hold, can invoke their immunity when international crimes are at stake," he said. Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes since its eruption in 2011 with the then-government's brutal crackdown on anti-Assad protests. Assad's fall on December 8, 2024 ended his family's five-decade rule.
Eyewitness News
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
France's top court annuls arrest warrant against Syria's Assad
PARIS - France's highest court Friday annulled a French arrest warrant against Syria's ex-president Bashar al-Assad - issued before his ouster - over 2013 deadly chemical attacks. The Court of Cassation ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. But its presiding judge, Christophe Soulard, added that, as Assad was no longer president after an Islamist-led group toppled him in December, "new arrest warrants can have been, or can be, issued against him" and as such the investigation into the case could continue. Human rights advocates had hoped the court would rule that immunity did not apply because of the severity of the allegations, which would have set a major precedent in international law towards holding accused war criminals to account. They said that, in this regard, it was a missed opportunity. "This ruling represents a setback for the global fight against impunity for the most serious crimes under international law," said Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, a civil party to the case. French authorities issued the warrant against Assad in November 2023 over his alleged role in the chain of command for a sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma outside Damascus. Assad is accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case. Syrian authorities at the time denied involvement and blamed rebels. UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries. An investigation - based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage - led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher who headed an elite army unit, and two generals. Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state. The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed. But in December, Assad's circumstances changed. He and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after Islamist-led fighters seized power from him. In January, French investigating magistrates issued a second arrest warrant against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Deraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian. 'GREAT VICTORY' The Court of Cassation said Assad's so-called "personal immunity", granted because of his office, meant he could not be targeted by arrest warrants until his ouster. But it ruled that "functional immunity", which is granted to people who perform certain functions of state, could be lifted in the case of accusations of severe crimes. Thus it upheld the French judiciary's indictment in another case against ex-governor of the Central Bank of Syria and former finance minister, Adib Mayaleh. He has been accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity over alleged funding of the Assad government during Syria's civil war. Mayaleh obtained French nationality in 1993, and goes by the name Andre Mayard on his French passport. Darwish, the Syrian lawyer, said that part of the court's ruling was however a "great victory". "It establishes the principle that no agent of a foreign state, regardless of the position they hold, can invoke their immunity when international crimes are at stake," he said. Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes since its eruption in 2011 with the then-government's brutal crackdown on anti-Assad protests. Assad's fall on 8 December 2024 ended his family's five-decade rule.
Al Jazeera
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
French court to decide if al-Assad can be tried for Syrian chemical attacks
France's highest court is set to rule on whether it can strip the state immunity of Bashar al-Assad, the toppled Syrian leader in exile in Russia, because of the sheer brutal scale of evidence in accusations documented against him by Syrian activists and European prosecutors. If the judges at the Cour de Cassation lift al-Assad's immunity on Friday, it could pave the way for his trial in absentia over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013 and Douma in 2018. It could also set a precedent to allow the prosecution of other government leaders linked to atrocities, human rights activists and lawyers say. Al-Assad has retained no lawyers for these charges and has denied he was behind the chemical attacks. The opposition has long rejected al-Assad's denial, as his forces were the only side in the ruinous, nearly 14-year civil war to possess sarin. A ruling against al-Assad would be 'a huge victory for the victims', said Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, which collected evidence of war crimes, quoted by The Associated Press news agency. 'It is not only about Syrians; this will open the door for the victims from any country and this will be the first time that a domestic investigative judge has the right to issue an arrest warrant for a president during his rule.' He said the ruling could enable his group to legally go after government members, like launching a money laundering case against former Syrian Central Bank governor and Minister of Economy Adib Mayaleh, whose lawyers have argued he had immunity under international law. Brutal crackdown For more than 50 years, Syria was ruled by Hafez al-Assad and then his son, Bashar. During the Arab Spring, rebellion broke out against their rule in 2011 across the country of 23 million, igniting a brutal civil war that killed more than half a million people, according to the the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Millions more fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkiye and Europe. The al-Assad dynasty also fomented sectarian tensions to stay in power, a legacy driving renewed recent violence in Syria against minority groups, despite promises that the country's new leaders will carve out a political future for Syria that includes and represents all its communities. As the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for leaders accused of atrocities – such as Russia's Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines – the French judges' ruling could empower the legal framework to prosecute not just deposed and exiled leaders but those currently in power. The Syrian government denied in 2013 that it was behind the Ghouta attack, but the United States subsequently threatened military retaliation, then settled for a deal with Moscow for al-Assad to give up his chemical weapons stockpile, opening the way for Russia to wield huge influence in the war-torn nation. Al-Assad survived more than a decade longer, aided militarily by Russia and Iranian-aligned groups, including Hezbollah, before being overthrown by rebel groups.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
To achieve peace, Syria must punish all crimes: rights lawyer
Lasting peace in Syria depends on the country building a strong judicial system giving justice to the victims of all crimes committed during the Assad era, a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer told AFP. "We believe that the Syrians who paid the heavy cost to reach this moment will not accept changing one dictatorship into another," Mazen Darwish said in an interview. Darwish, who was in Stockholm with his wife Yara Bader to receive an award for their work running the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), is one of the most high-profile rights advocates for Syria. While acknowledging that progress "will take time", Darwish said: "We don't think that we will be able to reach sustainable peace in Syria if we don't solve all of these crimes." Syria's international ties have started to reboot under its new transitional rulers, an Islamist coalition led by Ahmed al-Sharaa who commanded a rebel offensive which in December ended five decades of rule by the Assad family. But Western powers in particular have urged the new leadership to respect freedoms and protect minorities -- and wariness lingers over the future directions the coalition might take. President Donald Trump this week announced the lifting of US sanctions on Syria, which the Syrian foreign ministry hailed as a "pivotal turning point". But Darwish, who was born in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, said there are "a lot of challenges, a lot of worries regarding the new authorities". Sharaa's administration has vowed to prosecute those responsible for the torture of tens of thousands of detainees held in Syrian prisons under toppled leader Bashar al-Assad, and under his father Hafez al-Assad. Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia, is also accused of using chemical weapons against Syria's population. "We hope we will have transitional justice roadmap in Syria," Darwish said. He stressed that the new legal system should examine crimes from all parties and groups in the country. But the goal of bringing in transitional justice to Syria has had a setback. In late February, Syrian rights groups denounced the banning of a conference on transitional justice in the country to be attended by international NGOs and representatives of foreign governments. That conference, aiming to establish rule of law with an eye to national reconciliation, was to examine the fate of those who disappeared and violations committed during the civil war. - French case - With Syria's own justice system still deficient and lacking trust, the SCM has turned to outside countries that have adopted universal jurisdiction over war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, among them France, Germany, Canada and the United States. On Thursday, Darwish was due to testify in Paris as a civil party in a trial of former Syrian rebel, Majdi Nema, accused of complicity in war crimes in Syria. The former member of Jaysh al-Islam, whose trial started in late April, denies the allegations. "For us, this is one of the most important cases. This is also a case where the victims are our colleagues," Darwish explained. Human rights advocates Razan Zaitouneh, Wael Hamada, Samira Khalil, and Nazem Hammadi went missing after being abducted on December 9, 2013, in their offices in Douma. The region was under the control of rebel groups at the time, including Jaysh al-Islam. Stemming from the work done by SCM and other organisations, French judges have also issued two arrest warrants targeting Bashar al-Assad. The work carried out by Darwish and his wife Bader has come at a cost: the lawyer was himself arrested in 2012 and tortured in Syrian prisons. nzg/ef/rmb
Int'l Business Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
To Achieve Peace, Syria Must Punish All Crimes: Rights Lawyer
Lasting peace in Syria depends on the country building a strong judicial system giving justice to the victims of all crimes committed during the Assad era, a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer told AFP. "We believe that the Syrians who paid the heavy cost to reach this moment will not accept changing one dictatorship into another," Mazen Darwish said in an interview. Darwish, who was in Stockholm with his wife Yara Bader to receive an award for their work running the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), is one of the most high-profile rights advocates for Syria. While acknowledging that progress "will take time", Darwish said: "We don't think that we will be able to reach sustainable peace in Syria if we don't solve all of these crimes." Syria's international ties have started to reboot under its new transitional rulers, an Islamist coalition led by Ahmed al-Sharaa who commanded a rebel offensive which in December ended five decades of rule by the Assad family. But Western powers in particular have urged the new leadership to respect freedoms and protect minorities -- and wariness lingers over the future directions the coalition might take. President Donald Trump this week announced the lifting of US sanctions on Syria, which the Syrian foreign ministry hailed as a "pivotal turning point". But Darwish, who was born in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, said there are "a lot of challenges, a lot of worries regarding the new authorities". Sharaa's administration has vowed to prosecute those responsible for the torture of tens of thousands of detainees held in Syrian prisons under toppled leader Bashar al-Assad, and under his father Hafez al-Assad. Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia, is also accused of using chemical weapons against Syria's population. "We hope we will have transitional justice roadmap in Syria," Darwish said. He stressed that the new legal system should examine crimes from all parties and groups in the country. But the goal of bringing in transitional justice to Syria has had a setback. In late February, Syrian rights groups denounced the banning of a conference on transitional justice in the country to be attended by international NGOs and representatives of foreign governments. That conference, aiming to establish rule of law with an eye to national reconciliation, was to examine the fate of those who disappeared and violations committed during the civil war. With Syria's own justice system still deficient and lacking trust, the SCM has turned to outside countries that have adopted universal jurisdiction over war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, among them France, Germany, Canada and the United States. On Thursday, Darwish was due to testify in Paris as a civil party in a trial of former Syrian rebel, Majdi Nema, accused of complicity in war crimes in Syria. The former member of Jaysh al-Islam, whose trial started in late April, denies the allegations. "For us, this is one of the most important cases. This is also a case where the victims are our colleagues," Darwish explained. Human rights advocates Razan Zaitouneh, Wael Hamada, Samira Khalil, and Nazem Hammadi went missing after being abducted on December 9, 2013, in their offices in Douma. The region was under the control of rebel groups at the time, including Jaysh al-Islam. Stemming from the work done by SCM and other organisations, French judges have also issued two arrest warrants targeting Bashar al-Assad. The work carried out by Darwish and his wife Bader has come at a cost: the lawyer was himself arrested in 2012 and tortured in Syrian prisons. A prison complex in the Syrian city of Palmyra that had been run by the ousted Assad regime AFP Darwish and other Syrian rights advocates have turned to outside countries' courts for justice AFP
