Syrian President faces indictment by International Criminal Court
April 25th, 2011 - 1:06 pm ICT by ANIDamascus, Apr 25 (ANI): The International Criminal Court could indict Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for causing the deaths of 120 anti-government protesters.
According to The Telegraph, an influential body of international judges and lawyers called for Assad and his lieutenants to be held to account for attacks in which troops and military men fired on civilians.
“Those ordering and carrying out these attacks, including those firing live rounds into crowds, must be held criminally accountable,” said the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) in a statement.
Critics complained that while the west has been comparatively quick to go to the aid of the Libyan people, Syrians struggling against one of the Middle East’s most repressive regimes had largely been abandoned to their fate.
“The international community has failed so far to protect the people of Syria from wide-scale human rights violations,” said Wilder Taylor, the ICJ’s secretary-general.
Syria has deployed many of the same tactics used by Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, with unarmed protesters facing live fire by both the security forces and loyalist militiamen and snipers.
The ICJ called for Syria to be referred to the United Nations Security Council. “There is enough evidence suggesting mass killings now,” said Said Benarbia, the ICJ’s legal officer for the Middle East.
Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, also called for action by urging Western states to impose sanctions on Syrian officials involved in the killings of civilians. (ANI)
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