Turkish human rights lawyers advocating for Syrian victims have urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to “urgently” issue arrest warrants for Bashar al-Assad and 17 senior officials (Photo by Elif Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Turkish human rights lawyers representing Syrians have called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently issue arrest warrants for Bashar al-Assad and 17 senior officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as reported by Anadolu news agency.
In a statement issued after meeting Syrian authorities on Thursday, lawyers Gülden Sönmez and Cihat Gökdemir explained that proceedings were initiated in 2017 on behalf of victims of the Assad regime.
These victims, they noted, had suffered grave abuses under Assad’s rule.
The lawyers emphasised that the case files remain active due to ongoing conditions stemming from the Syrian war.
“With the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024, the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Assad regime have been exposed to the world,” they stated.
Call for swift ICC action
Sönmez and Gökdemir urged the ICC to act decisively.
“We call upon the ICC prosecutor from Damascus to urgently issue arrest warrants for Bashar al-Assad and senior officials based on the existing case files,” they said.
They also called on the ICC to send a delegation to Syria for on-site investigations, highlighting the systematic nature of atrocities committed during the conflict, including torture, sexual violence, and the use of chemical weapons.
“Trials against war criminals must be initiated urgently to ensure justice for the victims,” they stressed.
The lawyers invited institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and individuals possessing evidence of the regime’s crimes to contribute to the case.
“We are open to all forms of cooperation to ensure justice,” they said.
Decades of abuse and thousands missing
Rights groups, including the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), have consistently documented the regime’s widespread and systematic abuses.
According to SNHR founder Fadel Abdul Ghany, over 100,000 Syrians, including men, women, and children, have been forcibly disappeared since 2011. Very few have resurfaced, he said, with only about 3,000 death certificates verified so far.
During their visit to Damascus, Sönmez and Gökdemir spent 10 days meeting with victims and documenting their experiences.
Speaking outside a courthouse in the Syrian capital, Sönmez said, “We will return to Istanbul and then proceed to The Hague with our delegation of international lawyers to take steps toward the arrest of Assad and other perpetrators.”
The legal team also met with Syrian Justice Minister Shadi al-Waisi to discuss the regime’s crimes and humanitarian issues.
Al-Waisi emphasised the importance of collaboration with international organisations to gather and present evidence to the global community.
According to Syrian state news agency SANA, Sönmez noted that the visit aimed to review case files submitted to the ICC.
“The Minister of Justice was informed about what international lawyers have achieved since 2017 and that they have received the files of 1,183 victims in various categories.”
“These files were submitted to the International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2019 for the trial of Bashar Assad and 17 political and military officials in his regime for the crimes they committed against Syrians,” she said.
The Assad regime came to an abrupt end on 8 December 2024, when rebel forces captured Damascus, ending nearly 25 years of his rule and the Baath Party’s six-decade dominance.
Assad fled to Russia, leaving behind a country devastated by a nearly 14-year civil war that has claimed an estimated 620,000 lives from a pre-war population of 22 million.
