- In response to Syria’s use of prohibited chemical weapons against people, France has filed international arrest warrants for the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher, two other top officials, and military generals Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan.
- Al-Assad, his brother Maher, and the military generals are accused of participating in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the warrants.
- The military generals collaborate with a Syrian research organization that is suspected of creating chemical weapons, while Maher al-Assad commands the 4th Armoured Division, an elite Syrian military force.
- The warrants are the result of a criminal investigation into the 2013 chemical attacks that claimed over 1,000 lives in Douma and Eastern Ghouta.
- For the Syrian president, whose forces brutally suppressed protesters in 2011 and are accused by UN experts of war crimes, this is the first international arrest warrant issued.
- Regarding suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity, France asserts global jurisdiction. Although Syria disputes the use of chemical weapons, a prior joint investigation by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons discovered that the Syrian government had used chlorine as a weapon on many occasions and had attacked in April 2017 with the nerve agent sarin.
- In response to Syria’s use of prohibited chemical weapons against people, France has filed international arrest warrants for the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher, two other top officials, and military generals Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan.
- Al-Assad, his brother Maher, and the military generals are accused of participating in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the warrants.
- The military generals collaborate with a Syrian research organization that is suspected of creating chemical weapons, while Maher al-Assad commands the 4th Armoured Division, an elite Syrian military force.
- The warrants are the result of a criminal investigation into the 2013 chemical attacks that claimed over 1,000 lives in Douma and Eastern Ghouta.
- For the Syrian president, whose forces brutally suppressed protesters in 2011 and are accused by UN experts of war crimes, this is the first international arrest warrant issued.
- Regarding suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity, France asserts global jurisdiction. Although Syria disputes the use of chemical weapons, a prior joint investigation by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons discovered that the Syrian government had used chlorine as a weapon on many occasions and had attacked in April 2017 with the nerve agent sarin.
Source:
Al Jazeera