On Wednesday, a French appeals court upheld an arrest warrant issued for Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President. 

The charges against al-Assad were Brough against him over an alleged use of banned chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. The warrant was approved in November 2023 by French judges, and cites charges of complicity both in crimes against humanity and war crimes. The warrant comes following a French investigation into chemical attacks that killed over 1,000 people. The attacks, located in Douma, and the district of Eastern Ghouta occurred in August 2013. The Assad government has denied using chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war. Prosecutors have also questioned the validity of the arrest warrant asserting that Assad’s position as the head of state made him immune from both trial and prosecution. The Paris Court of Appeal responded, ensuring the validity of the arrest warrant with this statement, “Prohibiting the use of chemical weapons is part of customary international law as a mandatory rule, and the international crimes that the judges are looking at cannot be considered as being part of the official duties of a head of state. They can thus be separated from the sovereignty naturally attached to these duties.”

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https://www.reuters.com/world/french-court-upholds-warrant-syrias-assad-over-chemical-weapons-2024-06-26/