Chemical weapons in Syria and an investigation affecting Assad

Human rights organizations announced Tuesday that they “have filed a criminal complaint in Germany asking prosecutors to investigate two chemical weapons attacks in Syria that stand out among the worst atrocities in the long-running conflict in the country.”

Three organizations, including Syrian human rights defenders and international legal activists, asked the German prosecutor to “investigate two deadly sarin gas attacks in the eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus and Khan Sheikhoun, which occurred in 2013 and 2017, respectively.”

The organizations emphasized that there is ample evidence to blame the Syrian government for the two attacks, including the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad.

The organizations, the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative, the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, and the Syrian Archive Group chose to present the case in Germany, because the state applies the principle of “universal jurisdiction” that allows it to prosecute crimes committed in other places.

The organizations said: “The file I presented to the German prosecutor this week contains new information on the two attacks, including information obtained from former Syrian government officials who have since defected.”