Crimes committed in Syria, International Court delegation in Damascus

 Saturday, January 18, 2025

Islamabad (Point News Today / Pakistan Point News - DW News - 18th January 2025) According to reports received from Damascus, the capital of Syria, which has been suffering from a long-standing civil war, on Saturday, December 18, a delegation from the International Criminal Court (ICC) led by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan met with Syrian interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Friday.

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Syrian Interim Foreign Minister Saad al-Shaibani was also present at the meeting, and the ICC Chief Prosecutor thanked the new Syrian leadership for the “very open and constructive approach” that the Damascus government had shown in the initial contacts between the International Court and the interim government.

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The purpose of the delegation’s visit

The initial contacts between the International Criminal Court and the Syrian transitional government, followed by a visit to Damascus by a delegation from the court, are aimed at ensuring a partnership that will, to the extent possible, hold perpetrators of crimes committed in Syria during the more than decade-long civil war.

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After the meeting, the ICC said in a post on the social media platform X, “The ICC is grateful for the constructive dialogue with the Syrian government to hold relevant elements accountable for crimes committed in Syria.”

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Syria is not a member of the ICC

The Middle Eastern state of Syria is not a member of the International Criminal Court.

Therefore, this international court does not have the authority to hear cases related to crimes committed on Syrian soil.

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But now the background of the contacts between the current Syrian government and this international court is that the transitional government in Damascus demands that the officials who committed crimes during the reign of former President Bashar al-Assad be held accountable for these crimes.

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In Syria, the forces opposing the Damascus government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa and the opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, succeeded in overthrowing the government of President Bashar al-Assad last month.

During this time, President Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for more than two decades, fled the country with his family and went to Russia, where he has taken refuge.

During the Assad era, tens of thousands of people in Syria were either severely tortured or killed in prisons run by the government.

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According to the international human rights organization Amnesty International, thousands of people were killed in the notorious Saydnaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus alone during the Assad era.

Most of these victims were civilians who were opponents of the Assad regime.