Cuba rejects French arrest warrant for Syria's al-Assad
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The Cuban foreign minister slams the arrest warrant issued in France for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a violation of international law.
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Thursday rejected the arrest warrant issued in France for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Paris judges on Wednesday confirmed a French arrest warrant for President al-Assad over alleged complicity in crimes against humanity for 2013 chemical attacks, the plaintiffs' lawyers announced.
"We reject the arrest warrant against the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad, issued in France and potentially applicable in the EU, which disregards his immunity as a Head of State, violates international law, and sets a dangerous precedent for the current international system," Rodriguez wrote on his X account.
Rechazamos orden de detención contra Presidente de #Siria Bashar al-Asad, dictada en Francia y con eventual aplicación en la UE, que desconoce su inmunidad como Jefe de Estado, viola normas del Derecho Internacional y crea peligroso precedente para sistema internacional actual. pic.twitter.com/MyZMUc2ACB
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) June 27, 2024
Prosecutors from a unit specialized in investigating terrorist attacks had sought to annul the warrant, arguing that immunity for foreign heads of state should only be lifted for international prosecutions, such as before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
France is believed to be the first country to have issued an arrest warrant for a sitting foreign head of state.
In 2023, a report by The Grayzone revealed that a British government-affiliated chief security officer played a central role in spinning and disseminating subversive media narratives during the span of the war on Syria, including promoting the narrative that al-Assad was responsible for the chemical attack, which nearly led to Western intervention.
A recent report by The Grayzone shows that a #British government-affiliated CSO played a central role in spinning and disseminating subversive media narratives during the span of the war on #Syria. pic.twitter.com/9rzJaBoTAi
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) September 23, 2023
The report explained that such narratives were propagated to demonize the government in the eyes of the Syrian people and manufacture international consent for foreign interference.
The report stated that American officials "suppressed internal assessments" indicating that the Syrian wing of al-Qaeda had an "advanced" sarin production cell, thus providing a justification for the US to publicly blame the Syrian government for the 2013 chemical attack.
On September 13, 2023, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh also published an assessment by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) detailing the chemical weapons arsenal possessed by al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front, which cast doubt on claims that the Syrian government was responsible for chemical attacks.
