French judges have issued arrest warrants for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and two senior officials on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and complicity in war crimes. The warrants follow a criminal investigation into chemical attacks in Douma and Eastern Ghouta in August 2013, where over 1,000 people lost their lives. Notably, this marks the first international arrest warrant for the Syrian head of state, who faced accusations of war crimes in response to protests that began in 2011.
These warrants also represent the first international actions related to the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta. Syria denies using chemical weapons, but a joint inquiry by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found evidence of chemical weapon use by the Syrian government in previous incidents.
Arrest warrants for sitting heads of state are uncommon due to immunity from prosecution, but exceptions exist in cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Currently, the International Criminal Court holds arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.
The warrants also target Ghassam Abbas, director of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC), responsible for Syria’s chemical weapons program, and Bassam al-Hassan, chief of security and liaison officer. Maher al-Assad is implicated in his role as the head of the fourth armored division. This move adds to a total of 11 arrest warrants issued by judges from the crimes against humanity unit at the Paris Tribunal for crimes committed by Syrian officials. In October, warrants were issued for two former defense ministers over a 2017 bomb that killed a French-Syrian man in Daraa.
