Syrian officials convicted of crimes against humanity in France

French judge convicts three senior Syrian officials for their role in jailing, Enforced disappearance and tortured two Syrian-French dual citizens. Patrick Dabbagh and his father Mazen in 2013and confiscate their property.

On May 24, 2024, the Court Summarize The imprisonment, enforced disappearance and torture committed by officers Ali Mamlouk, Jamil Hassan and Abdel Salam Mahmoud amount to Crimes against humanity and War crimes.

The trial at the Paris Criminal Court was conducted in absentia, meaning the accused was not present. International law discourages but does not prohibit trials in absentia, provided safeguards are in place, in particular that anyone convicted in absentia has the right to a full and fair retrial if subsequently detained. French law provides for this right.

Human Rights Watch spoke with many Syrian families, activists, and Civilized Society Many groups also brought photos of their loved ones. Disappeared In a Syrian prison.

Since 2011, Human Rights Watch and other organizations have Widely Record The Syrian government forces have carried out arbitrary detention and torture on a large scale and in a systematic manner, constituting crimes against humanity. Despite overwhelming evidence of systematic human rights violations, including findings by the United Nations investigationand continued efforts to pursue justice National Court exist Europe and through the watershed Torture cases At the International Court of Justice, there is no sign that the Syrian government has stopped its brutality or been held accountable for the atrocities of the past decade.

Yet the case in Paris sent a stark warning to the Assad government that scrutiny of its litany of abuses will continue.

During this period JudgmentThe court reviewed Caesar The judges also heard from French investigators, a U.N.-mandated team Investigators and survivors. International Federation for Human Rights, Human Rights League, and Obeida Dabbagh, a relative of the victim, Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) was involved in the case and filed a complaint with the French authorities in 2016.

More than a decade after they disappeared, Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh’s story highlights the plight of countless others who have similarly disappeared in Syria, and the pain of their loved ones who are still searching for answers about their own fate. More needs to be done to ensure that this cycle of impunity is finally broken.