France cancels arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad

The French court ruled this Friday that no exception can waive the personal immunity of a head of state, thus nullifying the arrest warrant issued by Parisian investigating judges against former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

However, Friday's ruling notes that since Bashar al-Assad was deposed in December 2024 and is no longer head of state, "new arrest warrants can or may be issued against him" for war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the president of the highest court in the French judicial order, Christophe Soulard, during a public hearing.

According to the president of the Court of Cassation, the judicial investigation opened against the former Syrian dictator can proceed. In November 2023, French judges issued an arrest warrant for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes against Bashar al-Assad, for the chemical attacks attributed to his regime in 2013, which killed more than a thousand people.

These attacks took place between 4 and 5 August 2013 in Adra and Douma (causing around 450 injuries) and on 21 August in the Eastern Ghouta region, where more than 1,400 people, according to US intelligence, were killed by sarin gas .

Assad did not present a defense to these charges and denied any involvement in the chemical attacks. In June 2024, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the warrant.

However, both the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT), in the first instance, and subsequently the Public Prosecutor's Office, raised objections, defending the absolute immunity before foreign courts enjoyed by acting heads of state, prime ministers and foreign ministers.

On July 4, French prosecutor Rémy Heitz requested that the arrest warrant against the former Syrian head of state be maintained , challenging the Court of Appeal's analysis, which found that such crimes "could not be considered as falling within the official functions of a head of state."

However, the prosecutor ended up suggesting to the court “a third way” , by excluding Bashar al-Assad’s personal immunity, arguing that, since 2012, France no longer recognized the dictator as the legitimate head of state of Syria, due to the “mass crimes” committed by the “Syrian regime” , which would nullify the principle of personal immunity.

The lawyer for the civil parties (non-governmental organizations and victims), Paul Mathonnet, asked the court to be able to “remove personal immunity on a case-by-case basis”, especially when impunity is at stake , for example in the case of chemical attacks, which are considered “absolutely prohibited” under international law.

The International Criminal Court (ICC), which is more focused on prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity, has no jurisdiction over crimes committed in Syria, as the country has not ratified the Rome Statute that created the court .

Another option would be the United Nations Security Council, however, no special resolution was requested to intervene in the Syrian case, as countries such as Russia and China (permanent members of the body) used their veto power to block any attempt in this direction and to protect the Assad regime .

Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez in 2000 , fled to Russia last December , shortly before a jihadist rebel coalition seized Damascus and ended five decades of power by the former president's family.

He was in power for 24 years, and his leadership was marked by the repression of pro-democracy protests in 2011 , triggering a civil war. The conflict caused more than half a million deaths and forced the displacement of several million people.