The decision by French criminal investigative judges to issue arrest warrants for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and two other senior officials for the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians in the town of Douma and the Eastern Ghouta district (killing more than 1,400 people in August 2013) sets a very important precedent.
It shows that the fight against impunity in Syria is beginning to bear fruit. It follows the arrest warrants issued last year for 4 Syrian generals to be tried in absentia in Paris in 2024 for complicity in crimes against humanity (kidnapping, torture and murder of citizens, including two French Syrians, Mazen and Patrick Dabbagh). It also follows similar cases being handled by the judiciary in Germany and other European countries.
Of course, justice takes time and this is frustrating for the families of the victims. And of course the political balance of power will be crucial in dealing with various challenges: how to arrest people who are still heads of state? Which countries will cooperate? Which major powers will protect them?
Nevertheless, these warants send a strong message: the judiciary has not taken into account the political normalizations that are underway or proposed with Damascus, and these normalizations will become increasingly difficult.
One could add that the decision is very necessary after so many years in which the "international community" seemed to exclude the peoples of the "Middle East" from the protection of international law. As if it wasn't made or written for them.
It is now time to exert more pressure and present more cases to continue the fight against impunity, whether in Syria or Palestine, where war crimes and crimes against humanity are committed by the Israeli army and armed settlers in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Z.M.
