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Assad arrest warrant: \u2018Hope and pain\u2019 for Syrian chemical attack survivors | Syria’s War<\/p>\n
Taking a breath becomes increasingly difficult, foam starts pouring out of your mouth, your vision becomes blurred and your heartbeat slows right down. Then the convulsions take over.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we surrendered to death,\u201d said Dr Salim Namour, describing the symptoms of sarin gas inhalation. He experienced them twice while treating the wounded in Ghouta, Syria, in August 2013, when the regime of President Bashar al-Assad launched a horrific chemical weapons attack on Douma and eastern Ghouta.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were destined to live, but not everyone survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Namour heads the Association of Victims of Chemical Weapons (AVCW), one of the organisations that brought a lawsuit which has led to the issue of a French arrest warrant against the al-Assad and three senior officers for the chemical massacre which killed more than 1,100 people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe worst effects of exposure to chemical weapons are the deep psychological trauma, the memories of suffocation and the memories of those we lost and loved,\u201d Namour told Al Jazeera. Remembering the terror that befell the hundreds of thousands who were besieged in Ghouta, he said: \u201cThey died while they were hungry and dreaming of a loaf of bread, and the children died dreaming of a toy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ten years ago, the chemical weapons massacre sparked global outrage, and attention turned to Barack Obama, the then-United States president, who had said that the use of chemical weapons in Syria was a \u201cred line\u201d.<\/p>\n
Despite a mountain of evidence against the regime over the use of chemical warfare on civilian populations, Obama\u2019s \u201cred line\u201d culminated in nothing more than the decision to destroy the chemical weapons arsenal in Syria.<\/p>\n
Syria agreed in 2013 to join the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) global watchdog and give up all chemical weapons.<\/p>\n
This left \u201ca feeling of bitterness and disappointment\u201d for the survivors, according to Namour, as they believed it allowed al-Assad to escape accountability and punishment.<\/p>\n
In September 2013, the United Nations Security Council issued Resolution No 2118, which stipulated the need to hold accountable those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria.<\/p>\n
The OPCW announced the completion of its destruction of Syria\u2019s chemical weapons one year after the massacre.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, investigations have proved the use of chemical weapons (such as sarin and chlorine) by regime forces in opposition-controlled areas over the following years.<\/p>\n
So, AVCW, along with the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), the Syrian Archive, the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Civil Rights Defenders turned to the international jurisdiction of France\u2019s courts in a bid to hold those responsible accountable.<\/p>\n The decision to issue an arrest warrant for al-Assad comes two years after the lawsuit was filed and evidence and witnesses were presented to the court in France.<\/p>\n The case against al-Assad and the high-ranking military officials was bolstered by firsthand witness accounts and deep analysis of the Syrian military chain of command, said lawyer Mazen Darwish, founder and director of SCM.<\/p>\n Darwish described the arrest warrant as an \u201chistoric precedent\u201d as it aims to hold accountable a serving president, who was previously considered to enjoy absolute immunity.<\/p>\n Darwish said the evidence \u201cproves that it is not possible for a military unit to use [chemical weapons] against civilians without an order from the president of the Republic, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces\u201d.<\/p>\n Darwish said he is not hopeful that the French trial will bring full justice for the victims, which he believes should take the form of a political transition and a path towards transitional justice. Such a process must be based on the principles of preventing recurrence and revenge, and holding those responsible accountable, he said.<\/p>\n The main goal of filing lawsuits in European courts, Darwish said, is to keep the principle of justice on the table, to enable the voices of victims to be heard and to provide proof that these crimes are real and not just \u201cpolitical allegations\u201d between conflicting parties, as the Syrian regime and its supporters claim.<\/p>\n Halting normalisation with the Syrian regime is also one of the goals of this trial, which serves to remind those who welcome Bashar al-Assad that he is a proven war criminal.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a Syrian refugee, I hope to return to my country and be able to live there with my children,\u201d Darwish said. \u201cFor any national cause, only the people are the ones who are able to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Mohamed Eid, 30, remembers the night when his town, Zamalka, became a \u201ctown of the dead\u201d as the deadly gas spread through all its neighbourhoods, causing the deaths of entire families within minutes.<\/p>\n As a media activist, Eid picked up his camera to try to document what he was seeing. \u201cI cannot forget the loved ones and relatives we lost,\u201d he told Al Jazeera. \u201cI saw mothers hugging their children as they died, and a father who could not breathe but was calling the rescuers to help his son instead of him.\u201d<\/p>\n Eid said he would consider any formal trial of al-Assad a \u201cvictory\u201d, although he would prefer it to take place in Syrian courts. \u201cBut the time is not suitable because the regime is still in power and continues to commit crimes to this day, as we see in Idlib,\u201d he said, referring to the continuous bombing by regime forces of areas outside its control in the northwest of the country.<\/p>\n Amin al-Sheikh, 48, received the news of the arrest warrant with a mixture of \u201ccaution and indifference\u201d because he believes that France has interests \u201cother than justice for the victims\u201d. He is angry that France allowed Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the Syrian President, to leave France and return to Syria in 2021, despite having been sentenced to prison for using funds diverted from Syria to buy French property.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are lying to us and will not do us justice. I would be ashamed of myself if I believed them or trusted them, and I will not change my convictions until I see concrete steps that begin to delegitimise this regime,\u201d al-Sheikh said.<\/p>\n The horror of the chemical attacks has never left Mahmoud Buwaydani, even years after he became a refugee in Turkey.<\/p>\n The college student was 16 years old when the massacre occurred. \u201cWe were accustomed to bombing, but this was different because of the number of victims and the type of weapons that were not often used at the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Buwaydani learned of the arrest warrant against al-Assad with mixed feelings, he said. \u201cI felt hope that we would be able to prosecute the criminals and pain over the memories which came back to me.\u201d<\/p>\n After being forcibly displaced to the north of Syria in 2018, Buwaydani began work to combat government propaganda and misinformation about the crimes he had witnessed, especially the chemical massacre.<\/p>\n He volunteered with the \u201cDon\u2019t Suffocate the Truth\u201d campaign, which works to raise awareness of what happened in Ghouta and to tell the stories of victims and witnesses through its platforms. Buwaydani hasn\u2019t lost hope, he said. \u201cWe hope that we will have true accountability for those responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n Other Syrian human rights organisations have also worked to file lawsuits in European courts and to support international efforts to hold the regime and those responsible for war crimes accountable.<\/p>\n Radi Saad, a volunteer with the Syrian Civil Defence (White Helmets), said any judicial decision aimed at holding perpetrators of violations inside Syria accountable will go a long way down the path of justice and accountability.<\/p>\n At the same time, the Civil Defence is working with the investigation teams of the OPCW to confirm 146 incidents of chemical weapons use in Syria, after confirming 17 locations and proving the Syrian regime\u2019s responsibility for nine of those attacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0635\u062f\u0631<\/a>No immunity for war criminals<\/h2>\n
Remembering \u2018town of the dead\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Don\u2019t suffocate truth\u2019<\/h2>\n
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