{"id":76319,"date":"2021-04-23T11:15:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T09:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/?p=76319"},"modified":"2022-01-10T12:56:49","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T11:56:49","slug":"syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html","title":{"rendered":"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><strong>On 21 April the first Syrian asylum seeker was convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. Are investigations into Syria now bearing fruit, or are the Dutch authorities still dealing with atrocities in the Syrian conflict piecemeal?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>In an empty courtroom in Rotterdam this week, broadcast by skype, because of covid-19 restrictions, <a href=\"https:\/\/uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl\/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:3998\">a single judge explained<\/a> that Ahmad al Y. was formerly a commander with the Ahrar al-Sham militia in Syria. In 2016 he took refuge first in Germany and then the Netherlands. While in Germany, he had shown a fellow asylum seeker a video, which later set off the Dutch police investigation into his case in 2019. On 21 April, based on that evidence, Al Y. was found guilty of putting his foot on a dead government soldier, kicking a corpse, and calling those he defeated \u00abdogs\u00bb. The spread of the video via YouTube and other social media networks was detailed in the judgement. But because the faces of the corpses were not recognisable, his crime under international humanitarian law only earned him a two-year sentence, supplemented by an additional four years' imprisonment for membership of a terrorist organisation. The prosecution <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lc.nl\/binnenland\/OM-eist-10-jaar-tegen-Syri%C3%ABr-wegens-oorlogsmisdrijven-26727273.html\">had asked<\/a> for 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Al Y. was the first Syrian asylum seeker to be convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. All the Syria trials so far have been of returning Dutch who joined either Jabhat al Nusra or Islamic State, two organizations considered as terrorist by The Netherlands. But the trend is upwards on the investigations into Syrian refugees who have been here for several years. Two more Syrians are currently being prosecuted in The Netherlands for international crimes. Abdelaziz A. was recognised by Syrian activists in the Amsterdam debate centre De Balie. He was charged with membership of Jabhat al-Nusra and complicity in murder. Abu Khuder, another commander of Jabhat al-Nusra, is accused of summary execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">One-sided prosecutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>All the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/44620-syria-why-dutch-prosecutors-link-terrorism-and-war-crimes.html\">Syria cases so far<\/a> are related to armed rebel groups. \u201cThe default is terrorism\u201d when it comes to charging, says <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cyrilrosman\">Cyril Rosman<\/a>, who follows all the trials for the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad. Rosman says that it\u2019s \u201conly when there\u2019s video or photo evidence that the prosecutors try with war crimes\u201d. Like in all courts, dealing with social media evidence is relatively new for the Dutch, with considerable emphasis by prosecutors on the verification aspects to prove location and ownership. The terrorism charges however \u201cdon\u2019t need a lot of evidence\u201d, notes Rosman. And, he says, it\u2019s been rare that proof emerged of what exactly people did while in Syria: \u201cIt almost never crops up\u201d. War crimes charges \u201cdepend on the availability of the evidence\u201d, agrees Christophe Paulussen, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asser.nl\/about-the-institute\/whos-who\/ChristophePaulussen\">senior researcher<\/a> at the Asser Institute in The Hague. When it does exist Dutch prosecutors \u201ccan go that one step further,\u201d says Rosman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hope Rikkelman of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.syrialegalnetwork.nl\/\">Syria Legal Network<\/a> says there\u2019s \u201ca lot of frustration\u201d among her Syrian colleagues from the fact that no one from the Syrian regime itself nor their accomplices have been arrested in The Netherlands. The pro-government militia were known as shabiha \u2013 ghosts \u2013 and researchers say many such \u2018ghosts\u2019 arrived among the ten of thousands of Syrians who fled to the Netherlands and applied for asylum. The special police unit for international crimes told Rosman that it is trying to find people on Syria\u2019s president Assad side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A list of obstacles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many questions still arise though as to why such investigations have taken so long. The specialized police unit is small. They\u2019ve taken some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.nl\/wordt-vervolgd\/waarom-worden-misdadige-assad-handlangers-in-nederland-niet-opgepakt\">public criticisms<\/a> over their (lack of) language skills and (lack of) relations with the community. Many asylum seekers don\u2019t know they can make reports nor where to voice their suspicions. \u201cThe avenues are not clear at all\u201d, says Rikkelman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Syrian refugees are hesitant to make statements against alleged perpetrators, the Netherlands is a small country and \u201cthey fear not being taken seriously,\u201d adds Rikkelman. And \u201cpeople are very scared\u201d, she says, that information will be sent to Syria and threaten their family\u2019s safety. Some Syrians have also lost faith. \u201cExpectations are low as opposed to a few years ago\u201d, says Rikkelman, \u201c[it\u2019s] a long term relationship that we and the Public Prosecutors office and the Team Internationale Misdrijven [the police special unit] have to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just finding out which trials are happening&nbsp;where, and attending the trials is also not always easy. It\u2019s \u201cnot transparent at all\u201d, says Rikkelman, \u201cyou have to either know via-via, or call the courts and simply ask if any cases are pending that week\u201d. Interest among the Dutch audience in these war crimes trials is not high: \u201cIt happened far away, the people are not Dutch\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, the overall picture is patchy, even for those who follow the trials closely. Rikkelman describes all the challenges to prosecution as \u201ca jigsaw where the pieces are not yet being put together\u201d by Dutch investigators. \u201cIt\u2019s all about context\u201d she says; you need \u201cthe whole picture,\u201d to understand the cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Syria is the new focus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The handful of international crimes cases tried and convicted in The Netherlands - some Afghans and Rwandans, one Congolese, one Ethiopian, a Dutch man who joined Islamic State and two Dutch businessmen connected war crimes in Iraq and Liberia - reflect how time-consuming and manpower intensive investigations can be. \u201cIn principle, the commitment to strive for accountability has been there for quite a while\u201d says Christophe Paulussen, \u201cbut it\u2019s difficult to pursue that goal if the conflict is still raging and investigators have difficulty in securing evidence\u201d. Priorities like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/43990-mh17-why-the-dutch-ruled-out-war-crimes-charges.html\">investigating the July 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines aircraft MH-17<\/a> that affected many Dutch people may also seep resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Syria is now a focus for the Dutch, due to \u201ca combination of factors\u201d, says Paulussen. More access to the crime scenes, more actors such as the Geneva-based UN Independent International Investigative Mechanism \u2013 which the Dutch has supported strongly \u2013 have contributed. NGOs also provide expert input&nbsp;: a report from the Syria Center for Media and Freedom of Expression was quoted in this week\u2019s judgement. A battery of specialists has also helped. The Netherlands Forensic Institute has been deployed to verify online sources on social media. Such evidence \u2013 as in the success of the latest judgment \u2013 \u201chas been quite important in Syria cases\u201d, says Paulussen. It seems that it\u2019s only when the suspects trip themselves up that the Dutch have been able to compensate for investigators\u2019 lack of access.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"articleLink articleLink--editorRecommanded articleLink--textInImage articleLink--textTop\" style=\"\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"articleLinkSurTitle\">Recommended reading<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<a class=\"articleLinkImageLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/41499-the-dutch-war-crimes-unit-hits-harder-on-syrian-suspects.html\"><div class=\"articleLinkImageContainer \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/83fbd2f7c7ab9f573b89299ecad8d8c4-540x360.jpg\" class=\"articleLinkImage backgroundImageTag w-100 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/83fbd2f7c7ab9f573b89299ecad8d8c4-540x360.jpg 540w, https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/83fbd2f7c7ab9f573b89299ecad8d8c4-730x487.jpg 730w, https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/83fbd2f7c7ab9f573b89299ecad8d8c4-1110x740.jpg 1110w, https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/83fbd2f7c7ab9f573b89299ecad8d8c4.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\r\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/41499-the-dutch-war-crimes-unit-hits-harder-on-syrian-suspects.html\" class=\"articleLinkTitle articleLinkTitle--default\">\r\n\t\t\tThe Dutch war crimes unit hits harder on Syrian suspects\r\n\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 21 April the first Syrian asylum seeker was convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. Are investigations into Syria now bearing fruit, or are the Dutch authorities still dealing with atrocities in the Syrian conflict piecemeal?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":76316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2801],"tags":[2683],"ji_location":[2373,2499],"class_list":["post-76319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-universal-jurisdiction","tag-war-crime","ji_location-netherlands","ji_location-syria"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3.1 (Yoast SEO v25.3.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus - JusticeInfo.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On 21 April the first Syrian asylum seeker was convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. Are investigations into Syria now bearing fruit, or are the Dutch authorities still dealing with atrocities in the Syrian conflict piecemeal?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On 21 April the first Syrian asylum seeker was convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. Are investigations into Syria now bearing fruit, or are the Dutch authorities still dealing with atrocities in the Syrian conflict piecemeal?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JusticeInfo.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JusticeInfo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-23T09:15:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-10T11:56:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Janet H. Anderson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@janethanderson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@justiceinfonet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Janet H. Anderson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"janderson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/28784f9ef986d3631dded75f4d7d63ac\"},\"headline\":\"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-23T09:15:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-10T11:56:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html\"},\"wordCount\":1090,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"war crime\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Universal jurisdiction\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html\",\"name\":\"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus - JusticeInfo.net\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-23T09:15:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-10T11:56:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"On 21 April the first Syrian asylum seeker was convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. Are investigations into Syria now bearing fruit, or are the Dutch authorities still dealing with atrocities in the Syrian conflict piecemeal?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"The Dutch judiciary is increasingly investigating Syrian war crimes suspects who have taken refuge in the Netherlands.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/\",\"name\":\"JusticeInfo.net\",\"description\":\"For justice to be done, it must be seen\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Justice Info\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/justiceinfo_logo-trans_1200x1200px.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/justiceinfo_logo-trans_1200x1200px.png\",\"width\":1199,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Justice Info\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JusticeInfo\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/justiceinfonet\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/justice-info\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCyCEsARodyuWtkWyhn-e7pA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Janet H. Anderson\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/janethanderson\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/auteur\/janderson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus - JusticeInfo.net","description":"On 21 April the first Syrian asylum seeker was convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. Are investigations into Syria now bearing fruit, or are the Dutch authorities still dealing with atrocities in the Syrian conflict piecemeal?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus","og_description":"On 21 April the first Syrian asylum seeker was convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. Are investigations into Syria now bearing fruit, or are the Dutch authorities still dealing with atrocities in the Syrian conflict piecemeal?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html","og_site_name":"JusticeInfo.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JusticeInfo\/","article_published_time":"2021-04-23T09:15:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-10T11:56:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Janet H. Anderson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@janethanderson","twitter_site":"@justiceinfonet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Janet H. Anderson","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html"},"author":{"name":"janderson","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/28784f9ef986d3631dded75f4d7d63ac"},"headline":"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus","datePublished":"2021-04-23T09:15:48+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-10T11:56:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html"},"wordCount":1090,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg","keywords":["war crime"],"articleSection":["Universal jurisdiction"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html","name":"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus - JusticeInfo.net","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-23T09:15:48+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-10T11:56:49+00:00","description":"On 21 April the first Syrian asylum seeker was convicted in The Netherlands of war crimes. Are investigations into Syria now bearing fruit, or are the Dutch authorities still dealing with atrocities in the Syrian conflict piecemeal?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Syria-Netherlands_map_1200x800.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"The Dutch judiciary is increasingly investigating Syrian war crimes suspects who have taken refuge in the Netherlands."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76319-syria-dutch-international-crimes-unit-new-focus.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Syria, the Dutch international crimes unit new focus"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/","name":"JusticeInfo.net","description":"For justice to be done, it must be seen","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#organization","name":"Justice Info","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/justiceinfo_logo-trans_1200x1200px.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/justiceinfo_logo-trans_1200x1200px.png","width":1199,"height":1200,"caption":"Justice Info"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JusticeInfo\/","https:\/\/x.com\/justiceinfonet","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/justice-info","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCyCEsARodyuWtkWyhn-e7pA"]},{"@type":"Person","name":"Janet H. Anderson","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/janethanderson"],"url":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/auteur\/janderson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76319"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76337,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76319\/revisions\/76337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76319"},{"taxonomy":"ji_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ji_location?post=76319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}