The French court sentences 3 Assad regime officials to life imprisonment in absentia

Paris Criminal Court sentenced 3 senior Assad regime officials in absentia to life in prison for complicity in committing crimes against humanity.

The verdict includes Ali Mamlouk, former director of Syria’s National Security Bureau, Jamil Hassan, former head of the Syrian Air Force intelligence, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, the former head of investigations of intelligence’s branch for complicity in serious criminal acts, including human rights violations, war crimes against French citizens of Syrian origin, Mazen Dabbagh and his son Patrick.

The judges ordered that the international arrest warrants against the three Assad regime officials since 2023 should remain in force. The trial of the officials started in absentia on last Tuesday charging them of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, in addition to arresting French citizens of Syrian origin in 2013 in Damascus, they are Mazen and Partrick Dabbagh, and killing them under torture in Assad regime’s prisons.

It is noteworthy that Patrick, born in 1993, was a student at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Damascus, while his father, born in 1956, was a senior educational consultant at the French School in the Syrian capital.

Lawyer Clemence Bectarte said, “Many may consider this trial symbolic, but it is part of a long process and must be read in light of the trials.”

Bectarte added, “All of this contributes to an effort to combat impunity for the crimes of the Syrian regime, which is the most important matter, because this struggle for justice is also a struggle for truth.”

Bectarte pointed out that this trial is not only related to crimes of the past, but rather follows the violations that continue until today, as the Assad regime government continues to torture, imprison and kill, pointing out that this trial serves as a reminder that we should not under any circumstances normalize relations with Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”