France seeks to uphold Assad's arrest warrant for crimes against humanity

This request was made during a hearing concerning the personal immunity enjoyed by foreign heads of state, held at the Court of Cassation, France's highest judicial authority, to consider whether an exception should be made in cases of suspected war crimes or crimes against humanity.

 In June 2024, the Paris Court of Appeal had already validated the arrest warrant against Assad. Both the Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office and the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Paris Court of Appeal challenged the warrant, citing the absolute immunity granted to heads of state during their tenure before foreign courts.

In November 2023, an arrest warrant was issued against Assad for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, related to chemical attacks using sarin gas on August 21, 2013, in Eastern Ghouta and Muadamiyat al-Sham near Damascus, which resulted in over 1,000 deaths.

 The Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, Rémi Heitz, highlighted the principle of state "sovereignty" and "legitimacy," which stipulates that no state should impose its authority on another through legal means.

 However, he proposed an "option" to the court to lift Bashar al-Assad's personal immunity, arguing that France no longer considers him a "legitimate president" of Syria at the time the warrant was issued.

 He clarified that "the mass crimes committed by the Syrian authorities" prompted France to take the "unusual decision" of not recognizing Assad's legitimacy since 2012. A decision is expected on July 25 in a public hearing.

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ANHA