For many of us documenting the cruel and inhuman war crimes of the Assad government in Syria, in the dark years that followed the 2016 fall of Aleppo, it often seemed there would be every chance that Bashar Al Assad, his family and his cohorts would get away with the brutality they heaped on their own people.
Now, with the fall of government, the time has come to bring justice back to Syria. Although the International Criminal Court has limited jurisdiction in Syria because Damascus never signed its governing treaty, this does not mean that those of us taking testimonies from survivors of rape, torture, ethnic cleansing and deportation were wasting our time.
Much of the visual documentation of the destruction of Aleppo or Homs was recorded on civilians’ smartphones. It is said that Syria was the most documented war in history – and much of that material now rests in a villa on the grounds of the UN office in Geneva, specifically in the hands of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism.
In 2016, the IIIM was mandated by the UN General Assembly to assist in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the most serious crimes committed under international law. That documentation is vital evidence of crimes during the Assad era. But now that Mr Al Assad and his family are in Moscow, what possibilities are there for justice for the Syrian people?
There must be justice because the crimes committed in Syria were the most heinous thinkable. The only place I feel compares to the level of criminality that I witnessed in my career would be Gaza, or possibly Sierra Leone or Liberia. It wasn’t unusual that I could come home from a day working in the field in Syria, and literally be sick from what I had witnessed or documented.
Last week, I went through my notebooks and papers, diving back into the dozens of testimonies I took in the years I worked in Syria, first as a journalist, then researching my book about war crimes, The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from Syria. More than 200,000 people were killed – and at least 15,000 died from torture, or were killed in the government’s terrible prisons. More than 130,000 are still missing.
The cases I researched were of student activists brutally tortured by government doctors, and tossed into morgues, still alive, to die. Young women, usually virgins, were brutally raped and left bleeding and beaten in prison cells. Children were mutilated in prison and died of their wounds. Families, reduced to making soup from leaves, died as part of Mr Al Assad’s “kneel or starve” campaign.
Today, in the euphoric but cautious weeks after Mr Al Assad’s fall, the accountability community is beginning to track what can be done, now that Syria’s former president is in Russia. The answer is: a lot. While it seems unlikely Mr Al Assad will stand trial, Ahmad Al Shara – Syria’s de facto leader – has said torturers will be prosecuted.
However, the criminality network did not extend to the Assad family only – there was an entire complex of terror. “We are targeting the system,” Fadel Abdulghany, director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, told The New York Times last month. “The Assad regime is not just the man himself. We need to target the security forces and the army and the tools Assad used to commit those crimes.”
The cases I researched were of student activists brutally tortured by government doctors, and tossed into morgues, still alive, to die
These crimes can be accounted for. One alternative is that national prosecutors in countries outside Syria can file charges under the concept of universal jurisdiction. This means that national courts in a third-party country can prosecute individuals for serious crimes against international law. In 2022, the Koblenz trial in Germany sentenced a former Syrian intelligence officer to life in prison after he was convicted of crimes against humanity. In France, judges issued a warrant for Mr Al Assad’s arrest for his 2013 sarin attacks against his own people in Eastern Ghouta.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, can also file charges – perhaps in Jordan, a country that is a member of the ICC and to where about 700,000 Syrians fled to escape government atrocities. There can also be special tribunals or domestic courts.
Things can radically change. Those of us who witnessed the brutalities of the Bosnian war in the 1990s never thought Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader who presided over four wars and the destruction of his country, would ever step foot in The Hague. But a new government came to power, and Milosevic was put on a helicopter to stand trial (he died in his prison cell in 2006). In the same way, a trial in The Hague could also await Mr Al Assad.
Justice following a war is imperative because without it, there can never be sustainable peace. Transitional justice – the mechanisms that ensure that the wars will not start again – can include memorialisation of the dead and the survivors, such as Kigali’s Genocide Memorial to the one million victims of the 1994 massacres in Rwanda. It can also mean a Truth and Reconciliation Committee, such as the one that operated in South Africa in 1995 and which examined the crimes under apartheid. The real purpose was to uncover the truth.
Domestic courts can also be set up in Syria, letting the Syrian people – whose civil society was courageous and robust in documenting crimes during Mr Al Assad’s time – control their own justice system, as in the Ukrainian model. Or there can be hybrid courts, such as Lebanon’s Special Tribunal after the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri.
Without justice, especially for a war as damaging and as cruel as Mr Al Assad’s, there can never be peace. Syria must heal, but it will take decades – generations. One of the most vital ingredients to reaching peace is to ensure that justice is at work.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The years Ramadan fell in May
The five pillars of Islam
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Wonka
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
EVIL%20DEAD%20RISE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
