France has issued an arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for allegedly using banned chemical weapons against civilians in Syria, a judicial source told CNN on Wednesday.
According to this source, two investigating judges on Tuesday issued four warrants against Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad and two other senior officials for complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes.
Anwar al-Bunni, a Syrian human rights lawyer and founder of the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research, told CNN the decision was “unprecedented.” It is believed to be the first time a nation has issued an arrest warrant for crimes against humanity for a sitting head of state in another country.
An Interpol ‘red warrant’ is expected to follow, according to Michael Chammas, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, who spoke to CNN from Germany.
A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest someone who is awaiting extradition, surrender or similar legal proceedings, according to Interpol.
“All Interpol member states should then comply with the arrest warrant,” Chammas told CNN.
The legal case was brought by the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and the Syrian Archives in March 2021 “over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians in the city of Douma and the district of Eastern Ghouta in August 2013, in attacks that killed more than 1,000 people,” prosecutors said in a statement released Wednesday.
The Syrian government has been accused of using poison gas in Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, then a rebel stronghold that the regime has been desperately trying to retake for more than a year. In turn, he accused the opposition forces of carrying out the attacks themselves.
The investigation was opened “due to a criminal complaint based on the testimonies of the survivors of the attacks in August 2013,” according to the prosecutor’s announcement.
Lawyer Mazen Darwish, founder and director-general of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), said on Wednesday that the decision “represents a historic judicial precedent”.
“It is a new victory for the victims, their families and the survivors and a step towards justice and sustainable peace in Syria,” Darwish said.
Hadi al Khatib, founder of the Syrian Archives, said: “With these arrest warrants, France is taking a firm stand that the horrific crimes that took place ten years ago cannot and will not go undetected. We see how France, and hopefully soon other countries, will take the hard evidence we have collected for years and finally demand criminal responsibility from the highest officials”.
CNN attempted to contact Syrian government officials for comment.
The Syrian government has long been accused of war crimes, but has repeatedly insisted that its attacks are aimed at “terrorists”. They also denied the use of chemical weapons.
“We have never in our history used our chemical arsenal,” Assad said in 2017. He added that “morally” the Syrian government would never do so “because it is not acceptable.”
Photo: Rudaw
