France launches first war crime trial for Syrian officials

Syrian soldiers first came at night for Patrick, a 20-year-old psychology student at Damascus University, stating they needed to question him. The next night, they returned for his father, Mazen. Five years later, in 2018, the Dabbagh family received death certificates confirming the French-Syrian father and son would never come home.

This week, a landmark trial in Paris will seek to determine whether senior Syrian intelligence officials are responsible for their disappearance and deaths. This trial marks the first time high-ranking Syrian officials will be tried in a European court for alleged crimes during Syria’s civil war.

Starting Tuesday, the four-day hearings are expected to present chilling evidence that President Bashar Assad’s regime used torture and arbitrary detentions to maintain power throughout the 14-year conflict. The trial occurs as Assad begins to regain some international standing, shedding his long-time pariah status.

**The Accused:**
– **Ali Mamlouk:** Former head of the National Security Bureau overseeing Syrian security and intelligence services, allegedly close to Assad. Now in his late 70s.
– **Jamil Hassan:** Former Air Force intelligence director, allegedly seen at a Damascus detention center where the Dabbaghs were held. In his early 70s.
– **Salam Mahmoud:** Former investigations official at a Damascus military airport believed to house the detention center. Allegedly expropriated the Dabbaghs’ house after their arrest. In his mid-60s.

The three men are accused of crimes against humanity, including arrest, torture, and killing of the father and son, as well as confiscating their house. They are being tried in absentia, with French magistrates issuing arrest warrants in October 2018, acknowledging the low likelihood of extradition. Defense lawyers will not represent them, and they do not have diplomatic immunity.

Patrick Baudouin, a lawyer for the rights groups involved, stated, “The accused are very senior officials in the Syrian system of repression and torture, making this trial significant. The evidence of systematic and monstrous torture practices is very detailed.”

**Why France?**
Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh held dual French-Syrian nationality, allowing French magistrates to pursue the case. The investigation began in 2015 when Mazen’s brother, Obeida Dabbagh, testified to investigators. He lives in France with his wife, Hanane, and is a party in the case.

Obeida testified that on November 3, 2013, during the height of anti-government protests, Syrian Air Force intelligence soldiers took Patrick around 11 p.m. They returned the next night for Mazen, who worked as a counselor at a French high school in Damascus. Their death certificates stated Patrick died on January 21, 2014, and Mazen on November 25, 2017, but did not specify how or where.

**Exposing Torture:**
French investigators gathered evidence from Syrian government and military deserters and prison survivors. Testimonies included rape, denial of food and water, beatings, electric shocks, burnings, and being suspended from ceilings. Images from a Syrian policeman showed thousands of torture victims.

Cameras are banned from French criminal trials, but this one will be filmed for historical records.

**Another Investigation:**
French magistrates are also investigating President Assad himself for chemical weapons attacks in 2013 that killed over 1,000 people. They issued international arrest warrants for Assad, his brother Maher Assad, and two Syrian army generals for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. This investigation operates under the principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing for the prosecution of crimes outside their location of occurrence.

The Paris appeals court is considering whether Assad has absolute immunity as head of state. This does not affect the warrants for his brother and the generals.

**International Actions:**
In March, Swiss prosecutors indicted Rifat Assad, the president’s uncle and former Syrian vice president, for ordering murder and torture over four decades ago to crush a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Hama. A court in Stockholm put a former Syrian army general on trial in April for alleged war crimes in 2012. German courts convicted two former Syrian soldiers in 2021 and 2022 for crimes against humanity, under universal jurisdiction principles.