Taking a breath turns into more and more troublesome, foam begins pouring out of your mouth, your imaginative and prescient turns into blurred and your heartbeat slows proper down. Then the convulsions take over.
“Then we surrendered to death,” stated Dr Salim Namour, describing the signs of sarin gasoline inhalation. He skilled them twice whereas treating the wounded in Ghouta, Syria, in August 2013, when the regime of President Bashar al-Assad launched a horrific chemical weapons assault on Douma and jap Ghouta.
“We were destined to live, but not everyone survived.”
At present, Namour heads the Affiliation of Victims of Chemical Weapons (AVCW), one of many organisations that introduced a lawsuit which has led to the problem of a French arrest warrant towards the al-Assad and three senior officers for the chemical bloodbath which killed greater than 1,100 folks.
“The worst effects of exposure to chemical weapons are the deep psychological trauma, the memories of suffocation and the memories of those we lost and loved,” Namour advised Al Jazeera. Remembering the fear that befell the lots of of 1000’s who had been besieged in Ghouta, he stated: “They died while they were hungry and dreaming of a loaf of bread, and the children died dreaming of a toy.”
‘Bitterness and disappointment’
Ten years in the past, the chemical weapons bloodbath sparked international outrage, and a spotlight turned to Barack Obama, the then-United States president, who had stated that the usage of chemical weapons in Syria was a “red line”.
Regardless of a mountain of proof towards the regime over the usage of chemical warfare on civilian populations, Obama’s “red line” culminated in nothing greater than the choice to destroy the chemical weapons arsenal in Syria.
Syria agreed in 2013 to hitch the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) international watchdog and quit all chemical weapons.
This left “a feeling of bitterness and disappointment” for the survivors, in line with Namour, as they believed it allowed al-Assad to flee accountability and punishment.
In September 2013, the United Nations Safety Council issued Decision No 2118, which stipulated the necessity to maintain accountable these liable for the usage of chemical weapons in Syria.
The OPCW introduced the completion of its destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons one yr after the bloodbath.
Nonetheless, investigations have proved the usage of chemical weapons (corresponding to sarin and chlorine) by regime forces in opposition-controlled areas over the next years.
So, AVCW, together with the Syrian Heart for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), the Syrian Archive, the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Civil Rights Defenders turned to the worldwide jurisdiction of France’s courts in a bid to carry these accountable accountable.
No immunity for battle criminals
The choice to subject an arrest warrant for al-Assad comes two years after the lawsuit was filed and proof and witnesses had been introduced to the courtroom in France.
The case towards al-Assad and the high-ranking army officers was bolstered by firsthand witness accounts and deep evaluation of the Syrian army chain of command, stated lawyer Mazen Darwish, founder and director of SCM.
Darwish described the arrest warrant as an “historic precedent” because it goals to carry accountable a serving president, who was beforehand thought-about to get pleasure from absolute immunity.
Darwish stated the proof “proves that it is not possible for a military unit to use [chemical weapons] against civilians without an order from the president of the Republic, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces”.
Darwish stated he isn’t hopeful that the French trial will convey full justice for the victims, which he believes ought to take the type of a political transition and a path in direction of transitional justice. Such a course of have to be primarily based on the rules of stopping recurrence and revenge, and holding these accountable accountable, he stated.
The principle objective of submitting lawsuits in European courts, Darwish stated, is to maintain the precept of justice on the desk, to allow the voices of victims to be heard and to offer proof that these crimes are actual and never simply “political allegations” between conflicting events, because the Syrian regime and its supporters declare.
Halting normalisation with the Syrian regime can be one of many objectives of this trial, which serves to remind those that welcome Bashar al-Assad that he’s a confirmed battle prison.
“As a Syrian refugee, I hope to return to my country and be able to live there with my children,” Darwish stated. “For any national cause, only the people are the ones who are able to make a difference.”
Remembering ‘town of the dead’
Mohamed Eid, 30, remembers the evening when his city, Zamalka, grew to become a “town of the dead” because the lethal gasoline unfold by way of all its neighbourhoods, inflicting the deaths of total households inside minutes.
As a media activist, Eid picked up his digital camera to attempt to doc what he was seeing. “I cannot forget the loved ones and relatives we lost,” he advised Al Jazeera. “I saw mothers hugging their children as they died, and a father who could not breathe but was calling the rescuers to help his son instead of him.”
Eid stated he would take into account any formal trial of al-Assad a “victory”, though he would favor it to happen in Syrian courts. “But the time is not suitable because the regime is still in power and continues to commit crimes to this day, as we see in Idlib,” he stated, referring to the continual bombing by regime forces of areas exterior its management within the northwest of the nation.
Amin al-Sheikh, 48, obtained the information of the arrest warrant with a mix of “caution and indifference” as a result of he believes that France has pursuits “other than justice for the victims”. He’s offended that France allowed Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the Syrian President, to depart France and return to Syria in 2021, regardless of having been sentenced to prison for utilizing funds diverted from Syria to purchase French property.
“They are lying to us and will not do us justice. I would be ashamed of myself if I believed them or trusted them, and I will not change my convictions until I see concrete steps that begin to delegitimise this regime,” al-Sheikh stated.
‘Don’t suffocate fact’
The horror of the chemical assaults has by no means left Mahmoud Buwaydani, even years after he grew to become a refugee in Turkey.
The faculty pupil was 16 years previous when the bloodbath occurred. “We were accustomed to bombing, but this was different because of the number of victims and the type of weapons that were not often used at the time,” he stated.
Buwaydani realized of the arrest warrant towards al-Assad with combined emotions, he stated. “I felt hope that we would be able to prosecute the criminals and pain over the memories which came back to me.”
After being forcibly displaced to the north of Syria in 2018, Buwaydani started work to fight authorities propaganda and misinformation in regards to the crimes he had witnessed, particularly the chemical bloodbath.
He volunteered with the “Don’t Suffocate the Truth” marketing campaign, which works to boost consciousness of what occurred in Ghouta and to inform the tales of victims and witnesses by way of its platforms. Buwaydani hasn’t misplaced hope, he stated. “We hope that we will have true accountability for those responsible.”
Different Syrian human rights organisations have additionally labored to file lawsuits in European courts and to help worldwide efforts to carry the regime and people liable for battle crimes accountable.
Radi Saad, a volunteer with the Syrian Civil Defence (White Helmets), stated any judicial resolution aimed toward holding perpetrators of violations inside Syria accountable will go a great distance down the trail of justice and accountability.
On the identical time, the Civil Defence is working with the investigation groups of the OPCW to verify 146 incidents of chemical weapons use in Syria, after confirming 17 areas and proving the Syrian regime’s accountability for 9 of these assaults.
