PARIS (AFP) – France has issued an international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused of complicity in crimes against humanity over chemical attacks in 2013, a judicial source and plaintiffs in the case said yesterday.
The judicial source told AFP Assad was also suspected of complicity in war crimes for the attacks, blamed by the opposition on the regime, that killed more than 1,400 people near Damascus in August 2013.
International warrants were also issued for the arrests of Assad’s brother Maher, the de-facto chief of a Syrian elite military unit, and two armed forces generals.
The Paris court’s unit concerned with crimes against humanity has been investigating the chemical attacks since 2021. France claims worldwide jurisdiction for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The probe followed a legal complaint filed by the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) NGO, lawyers’ association Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and the Syrian Archive, a body documenting human rights violations in Syria. “It’s a huge development,” SCM president Mazen Darwish said of the warrant for Assad’s arrest.
“An independent jurisdiction is recognising that the chemical attack couldn’t have happened without the knowledge of the Syrian president, that he has responsibility and should be held accountable,” he told AFP.
