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France Seeks New International Warrant for Assad Over 2013 Sarin Attacks

A Cour de cassation decision determined that Assad’s personal immunity ended with his ouster, allowing prosecutors to seek complicity charges.

Le parquet antiterroriste a demandé lundi 28 juillet 2025 un nouveau mandat d’arrêt contre Bachar Al Assad pour les attaques chimiques de 2013, l’ex-président n’étant plus protégé par l’immunité depuis la chute de son régime en 2024.
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Overview

  • The Parquet national antiterroriste formally requested on July 28 a fresh international arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad over the August 2013 sarin gas attacks around Damascus.
  • Prosecutors are aiming to charge Assad with complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes for the strikes on Adra, Douma and Eastern Ghouta that killed and injured hundreds.
  • France’s highest court annulled the November 2023 warrant on grounds of presidential immunity but for the first time recognized that functional immunity cannot shield former heads of state in such cases.
  • After Assad lost control of Syria and de facto ceased to be head of state in December 2024, he no longer benefits from personal immunity, opening the door for renewed action.
  • If investigating judges approve, the move will underscore France’s universal-jurisdiction law in the absence of Syrian ICC membership and could set a precedent for prosecuting ex-leaders internationally.