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Justice in Syria

What is it all about?

Clear and analytic news

Since the fall of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the issue of justice in Syria has been in the world news headlines. The International Criminal Court (ICC) does not have jurisdiction to deal with mass crimes perpetrated by the ousted regime, while since 2019, European courts have taken the lead under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”. The first historic trial, that of Anwar Raslan in Germany, was followed by others, notably in the Netherlands, and by lawsuits launched against around sixty alleged perpetrators in Sweden, Belgium, Austria or France. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued “provisional measures” against the practice of torture in Syria. A UN mechanism has been tasked with documenting these crimes. Today, European prosecutors who are working on these cases, Syrian lawyers and all the organisations that have been mobilised for years are at the forefront of this fight for justice , followed very closely by Justice Info.

Syrian Majdi Nema is on trial in France for complicity in war crimes committed in Syria. Photo: Nema in 2019, freshly graduated in Istanbul.
Nema, portrait of an ex-rebel “certain of his innocence”
15 May 2025 by Chloé Dubois
Syrian Majdi Nema has been on trial in France since April 29 for complicity in war crimes. This former spokesman for the rebel group Jaysh al-Islam is pleading not-guilty before the Paris Assize Court.
A Syrian ex-rebel on trial in France: Majdi Nema. A Syrian rebel on trial in France
29 April 2025 by Chloé Dubois
The war crimes trial of Syrian Majdi Nema, former spokesman and an alleged top leader of the armed rebel group Jaysh al-Islam, opens this Tuesday, April 29, before the Paris Assize Court.
Searching for the missing in Syria. Photo: portrait of Karla Quintana wearing the official IIMP waistcoat in the field. Looking for the missing in Syria: “It’s titanic, but we are moving”
24 April 2025 by Julia Crawford
Mexican human rights lawyer Karla Quintana was appointed in December to head the UN’s Institution on Missing Persons in Syria. In an exclusive interview, she talked with Justice about how this body had to reshape its priorities after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Representatives and dignitaries of Syrian communities attend a two-day national dialogue conference in Damascus (Syria) Seeking justice in Syria: the advantages of the Assad regime
27 March 2025 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
Trying to figure out the landscape of mass crimes justice initiatives on Syria, after the fall of former president Bashar el-Assad, can only be an uncertain prediction game. In this podcast, Uğur Üngör talks about what we know.
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The invaders return - Poster for the redesigned ‘’The Invaders‘’ series. A map of the world is inlaid in the starry sky.
7 March 2025 by Thierry Cruvellier
The invaders return More and more countries – Russia, Israel, the United States, China, Azerbaijan, Venezuela – are publicly declaring their intent to conquer territories by force, or like Rwanda are doing it without admitting. The world order establ [...]
Justice in Syria. Portrait (drawing) of Nadim Houry, international lawyer.
25 February 2025 by Franck Petit
Justice in Syria should be “a new social contract” Two months after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, director of the Arab Reform Initiative Nadim Houry explores the possibilities for transitional justice. In his view, “civil peace without justice is inconceivable today” [...]
In Syria, after the fall of Assad, the search for the disappeared often begins in mass graves. Photo: People digging at the bottom of a deep mass grave while children watch from above.
7 January 2025 by Luis Fondebrider
Syria: getting it right in the search for the disappeared Since the fall of the Assad regime a month ago, many reports told the stories of Syrians trying to find out about their relatives who had disappeared. Infamous detention centers have revealed their murderous secrets. Mass graves w [...]
International justice for Bashar al-Assad's crimes in Syria. Photo: Broken portrait of Bashar al-Assad next to documents.
13 December 2024 by Franck Petit
“We will follow them wherever they will go” Renowned Syrian lawyer Anwar al-Bunni and his colleagues at the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research have been leading figures in Syrian efforts for justice. In Europe, they have initiated, with other organizations, univer [...]
ICC & Syria - An aerial photo shows people gathering around Saydnaya prison in Syria.
10 December 2024 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
Syria opens its prisons, ICC’s ASP closes its doors Without warning, Bashar el-Assad relinquished power and fled to Russia. This new Asymmetrical Haircuts podcast opens the discussion on Syria, following the opening of prisons and calls for accountability after decades with very li [...]
Genocide of the Yazidis - Photo: in Iraq, Yazidi women hold up placards commemorating the invasion of their region by the Islamic State (EI) group in 2014.
26 November 2024 by Chloé Dubois
Yazidi genocide trial to take place in France Two men and a woman, all French nationals and members of the Islamic State group, are for the first time being brought before a French court for genocide. The three are accused of taking part in the extermination of Yazidis and en [...]
Trial in the Netherlands for the slavery of Yezidi women in Syria - Photo: a Yezidi woman victim of slavery poses in profile in Syria.
22 October 2024 by Margherita Capacci
“IS saw the Yazidis as objects, not people” From October 14 to 17, victims’ testimonies were shared in the trial of a Dutch national accused of holding two Yazidi women as house slaves in Syria. The accused had travelled in 2015 with her four-year-old son and married an Isl [...]
Tadamon massacre in Syria: a trial in Germany - Photo: a street destroyed in the Tadamon neighbourhood, south of Damascus (Syria).
25 July 2024 by Hannah El-Hitami
The 2013 Tadamon massacre looms over Germany’s latest Syria trial Videos of the Tadamon massacre of 2013, after being widely circulated on social networks, are being used as evidence in Germany’s latest universal jurisdiction trial. While defendant Ahmed H., a Syrian driver and alleged militiama [...]
Arrest warrant issued by the French courts against Bashar Al-Assad (Syrian President), in connection with the 2013 chemical attacks in Syria. Photo: Poster in a Syrian street showing Al-Assad with a gas mask over his face.
26 June 2024 by AFP
Setback for Bashar al-Assad before the French courts On 26 June, the Paris Court of Appeal allowed the arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused of complicity in crimes against humanity for deadly chemical attacks in August 2013. This would be the first arrest war [...]
Justice for Syria and the International court of Justice (ICJ) - Photo: a poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the streets of Damascus.
7 June 2024 by Veronica Bellintani + Adrian Lakrichi + Mouhanad Sharabati
Why isn’t the ICJ bolder on Syria? One year after the June 8th 2023 complaint and six months after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered measures against the Syrian government, torture and human rights violations are still committed as reported by the UN [...]
Syrian trial in Paris (France) - Obeida Dabbagh speaks to the press following the verdict of three high-ranking Syrian security officials found guilty, in their absence, of crimes against humanity (torture) committed against his brother and nephew.
3 June 2024 by Franck Petit
Syrian trial: what to learn from this first default judgment In the four-day Syrian trial in Paris, judges on May 30 gave their reasoning for the verdict handed down on May 24. In a symbolic recognition for victims, three high-ranking Syrian security officials - Ali Mamlouk, Jamil Hassan an [...]
Syrian trial in France. Photo: Bashar al-Assad poster on a street in Damascus, Syria.
24 May 2024 by Franck Petit
In France, a first Syrian trial “by default” The trial of three high-ranking Syrian officials opened on 21 May before the Paris Assize Court. Tried in their absence, they are charged with complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes. A symbolic trial for France. And [...]
The Syrian lawyer Mazen Darwish talks to the media in Koblenz, Germany.
3 May 2024 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
Darwish: collecting evidence, to avoid revenge and another war in Syria For this hundredth episode of the podcast from our dear partners and colleagues at Asymmetrical Haircuts, our guest is Syrian lawyer Mazen Darwish, who is present and active in all the universal jurisdiction processes concerning B [...]
In-depth interview with Catherine Marchi-Uhel, Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria. Image: drawing of Marchi-Uhel.
12 March 2024 by Julia Crawford
Catherine Marchi-Uhel: “The results of the Syria Mechanism are becoming more visible” Catherine Marchi-Uhel of France is the first head of the first UN evidence-gathering mechanism, the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria, created in 2016 in Geneva. After seven years in office, she w [...]
Translation of universal jurisdiction trials - Photo: instant translation equipment with microphone and headphones, in an insulated glass booth.
13 February 2024 by Margherita Capacci
Syrian trials translated into Arabic: the Netherlands' conclusive test On January 22, the verdict in the first Syrian regime-related trial in the Netherlands was announced by the Hague District Court. The trial had a unique feature never before seen in Europe: it was simultaneously translated and reb [...]
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