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France to Put on Trial Syrian Officials for Crimes Against Humanity

Mazen Dabbagh and his son Patrick. (AFP file photo)
Mazen Dabbagh and his son Patrick. (AFP file photo)
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France to Put on Trial Syrian Officials for Crimes Against Humanity

Mazen Dabbagh and his son Patrick. (AFP file photo)
Mazen Dabbagh and his son Patrick. (AFP file photo)

France will begin in May 2024 the trial of three Syrian officials for killing two Syrians-French nationals, revealed a judicial source on Monday.

The suspects in the murder of Mazen Dabbagh and his son Patrick, who were arrested in 2013, will be tried before the Criminal Court in Paris. The charges include involvement in crimes against humanity and war crimes.

It will be the first trial in France for crimes against humanity committed in Syria.

The former head of the General Intelligence Service, Ali Mamlouk, who later became head of the National Security Bureau, the former head of the Air Force Intelligence Service, Jamil Hassan, and the director of the Bab Touma Air Force Intelligence, Abdul Salam Mahmoud, will be tried in absentia.

According to Agence France-Presse, the three Syrian officials are wanted under international arrest warrants.

Patrick Dabbagh was born in 1993 and was a student at the College of Arts and Humanities in Damascus, while his father, Mazen, was a principal educational advisor at the French School in Damascus and was born in 1956.

They were detained in November 2013 by officers who claimed to belong to the Air Force Intelligence.

According to Mazen Dabbagh's brother-in-law, who was also arrested but released two days later, the two were taken to Mezzeh prison, where reports of torture have been made.

They were not heard from again, and in 2018, the government declared them dead, dating Patrick's death to 2014 and Mazen to 2017.

The indictment order issued by two investigating judges at the end of March stated that it "seems sufficiently established" that Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh were subjected to torture "so intense that it killed them."

The Syrian regime is targeted by several judicial prosecutions in Europe, especially in Germany.

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Human Rights Watch Says Israel's Deprivation of Water in Gaza is Act of Genocide

Displaced Palestinians line up to fill their containers with water in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on September 14, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Displaced Palestinians line up to fill their containers with water in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on September 14, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
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Human Rights Watch Says Israel's Deprivation of Water in Gaza is Act of Genocide

Displaced Palestinians line up to fill their containers with water in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on September 14, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)
Displaced Palestinians line up to fill their containers with water in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on September 14, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. (Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP)

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.
"This policy, inflicted as part of a mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, means Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination, which is ongoing. This policy also amounts to an 'act of genocide' under the Genocide Convention of 1948," Human Rights Watch said in its report.
Israel has repeatedly rejected any accusation of genocide, saying it has respected international law and has a right to defend itself after the cross-border Hamas-led attack from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 that precipitated the war, reported Reuters.
In a statement on X, Israel's foreign ministry wrote: "The truth is the complete opposite of HRW's lies."
"Since the beginning of the war, Israel has facilitated the continuous flow of water and humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite operating under constant attacks of Hamas terror organization," the statement said.
Although the report described the deprivation of water as an act of genocide, it noted that proving the crime of genocide against Israeli officials would also require establishing their intent. It cited statements by some senior Israeli officials which it said suggested they "wish to destroy Palestinians" which means the deprivation of water "may amount to the crime of genocide".
"What we have found is that the Israeli government is intentionally killing Palestinians in Gaza by denying them the water that they need to survive," Lama Fakih, Human Rights Watch Middle East director told a press conference.
In its response, Israel said it had ensured water infrastructure remained operational. It said international partners had sent water tankers through Israeli crossings, including last week, and ⁠Israel had facilitated the entry of more than 1.2 million tons of humanitarian supplies into Gaza.
Human Rights Watch is the second major rights group in a month to use the word genocide to describe the actions of Israel in Gaza, after Amnesty International issued a report that concluded Israel was committing genocide.
Both reports came just weeks after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. They deny the allegations.
The 184-page Human Rights Watch report said the Israeli government stopped water being piped into Gaza and cut off electricity and restricted fuel which meant Gaza's own water and sanitation facilities could not be used.
As a result, Palestinians in Gaza had access to only a few liters of water a day in many areas, far below the 15-liter-threshold for survival, the group said. Israel launched its air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border 14 months ago, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, displaced most of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the coastal enclave to ruins.