UPDATE, 0750 GMT:
The European Union said on Sunday, “As the repression continues, targeted EU sanctions on leading members and entities of the [Assad] regime will be renewed at the end of May.”
Last Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution — marking the 10th anniversary of the Syrian uprising — which summarized the “sheer brutality” of the regime in response to “a demonstration of Syria’s ethnic and religious diversity, including leaders from all ethnic and religious groups and all provinces of the country”.
The resolution backs the pursuit of accountability for war crimes. It urges “all EU Member States without exception to be fully cooperative in the fight against impunity”, expressing “its deep concern over certain Member States’ lack of cooperation in prosecuting Syrian war criminals”.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Canada and The Netherlands have announced a joint effort seeking accountability of the Assad regime for war crimes.
The two countries declared the initiative on Friday. Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok summarized, “This is a point of light in a long, dark tunnel. The Syrians who have been living with war for nearly 10 years still deserve justice.”
The Canadian-Dutch investigation accompanies a series of international legal steps on the 10-year anniversary of the Syrian conflict, with the Assad regime and Russia responsible for the vast majority of hundreds of thousands of civilians killed and more than 11 million — half of Syria’s pre-war population — displaced.
*Last weekend London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed the opening of a preliminary investigation into Asma al-Assad, wife of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, for support of terrorism and war crimes.
See also UK Opens War Crimes Investigation of Asma al-Assad
*Last week UN human rights head Michelle Bachelet called for the prosecution of war crimes by national courts.
*Last month an Assad regime official was given a 4 1/2 sentence in Germany of crimes against humanity over the treatment of detainees, the first international punishment imposed over atrocities in the conflict. Another regime official is expected to be tried in Koblenz in October, and cases are being investigated in France and Sweden.
*Survivors of a lethal nerve agent attack by the regime in 2013 have filed a criminal case in France.
*International investigators, amassing more than 900,000 regime documents, say war crimes “lead all the way to President Assad“.
Regime “Must Be Held Accountable”
Blok said on Sunday that he is “more optimistic” about bringing a criminal case against Bashar al-Assad, even though the process could take years.
He said that the regime “must be held accountable” and that balking at legal action would give the war criminals “impunity”.
Important step in achieving justice for the Syrian victims now that Syria has agreed to talk about accountability.
Happy to be joining forces with Canada in our efforts to end impunity @MarcGarneau https://t.co/mzjnFGZeBI pic.twitter.com/JFr0vMYKhh— Stef Blok (@ministerBlok) March 12, 2021
Canada and The Netherlands have been among the leading countries in pursuing accountability for conventional and chemical attacks. Russia, the Assad regime, and supporting activists have pursued a years-long campaign to deny the attacks, as well as the killing of tens of thousands of detainees by execution, torture, or poor prison conditions.
The pro-Assad propaganda campaign has stepped up in recent days, with disinformation trying to bury a chlorine attack that killed 43 people in Douma, near the Syrian capital Damascus, in April 2018.
““Based on the levels of chlorinated organic derivatives, detected in several environmental samples gathered at the sites of alleged use of toxic chemicals
(Locations 2 and 4), which are not naturally present in the environment, the FFM concludes that the objects from which the samples were taken at both locations had been in contact with one or more substances containing reactive chlorine.”
Yes, reactive chlorine atoms are present in chorinated drinking water and bleach. The report does not provide concentration levels.
Rastgoo,
Irrelevant. The report is not referring to drinking water or bleach — it refers to chlorine residue in wood at the two locations.
S.
OPCW report on alleged use of chlorine gas in Saraqib: https://www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/S_series/2018/en/s-1626-2018_e_.pdf
“5.57 In the raw material for the production of chlorine, bromide is an expected contaminant that is not always removed in the production process. This bromine/bromide is often present in downstream products, and therefore could be expected to be present, at significantly lower concentrations, whenever chlorine/chloride is detected.”
The Douma report of 2019 (https://www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/2019/03/s-1731-2019%28e%29.pdf) does not report any trace of bromine.
Rastgoo,
Yes — the Douma report does point to the remaining traces of chlorine, weeks after the attack, and concludes there are “reasonable grounds” that a chlorine attack occurred.
Best read the report again — but good to see that you acknowledge at least one chlorine attack by the Assad regime.
S.
Nice deflect again. Bromides do exist naturally and in fertilizer. Now what do you make of these statements in the final report?
“8.33 From what the team observed, there did not appear to be any leakage from the cylinder at the time the team visited the location. The team noted that a slat of wood was lying under the cylinder on the bed, part of which was taken as a sample. The slat of wood was damp and softened. NO CHLORINE GAS was detected in the room by the detection equipment used by the team.”
“8.13 It should be noted that phenol can also be chlorinated to trichlorophenol with sodium hypochlorite, the main component of chlorine-based BLEACH [4] [5].”
I make of it that you are either dishonest or have no comprehension of basic science or the OPCW report.
Of course there was no chlorine gas in the room, as the inspection was only able to take place weeks after the event. However, chlorine residue was present as the report notes throughout. Here is only one of the key passages:
“Based on the levels of chlorinated organic derivatives, detected in several environmental samples gathered at the sites of alleged use of toxic chemicals
(Locations 2 and 4), which are not naturally present in the environment, the FFM concludes that the objects from which the samples were taken at both locations had been in contact with one or more substances containing reactive chlorine.”
Excellent scientific criticism of the conclusions of the OPCW on Douma: https://hiddensyria.com/2020/01/05/two-buildings-two-cylinders-part-1/
“There can be little doubt that the official narrative on the bedroom cylinder and the facts as presented don’t add up. There seems to have been a case of the OPCW trying to make the evidence fit the crime rather than asking if the evidence does indeed fit. ”
The drawing that proves the point that the cylinders were placed and did not miraculously bounce onto the bed: https://hiddensyria.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Screenshot-2020-01-05-at-16.56.24.png
You’re citing “Philip Watson”, an unqualified quack conspiracy theorist from Northern Ireland?
Brilliant.
Tell me how Elliot Higgins of Bellingcat, whom you quote on who has what weapons in the Syrian conflict, is “qualified”.
But, once again, attack the messenger and ignore the message.
I’d love to hear your account – not provided in the final report – as to how those yellow cylinders got onto the bed. Evidently, there is a new law of physics that has been discovered in the process.
Rastgoo,
I think you mean the site Bellingcat, among the leaders in analysis of open-source intelligence and geolocation.
As for the chlorine cylinder in one of the two sites attacked in Douma, you should read the analysis — based on physics, metallurgy, and computer modelling — in the final report of the OPCW Fact Finding Mission.
S.
Courage Foundation denounces the OPCW’s cover-up about the Douma incident and its distortion of the scientific facts: https://couragefound.org/2021/03/statement-of-concern-the-opcw-investigation-of-alleged-chemical-weapons-use-in-douma-syria/
“Since the publication by the OPCW of its final report in March 2019, a series of worrying developments has raised serious and substantial concerns with respect to the conduct of that investigation. These developments include instances in which OPCW inspectors involved with the investigation have identified major procedural and scientific irregularities, the leaking of a significant quantity of corroborating documents, and damning statements provided to UN Security Council meetings. It is now well established that some senior inspectors involved with the investigation, one of whom played a central role, reject how the investigation derived its conclusions, and OPCW management now stands accused of accepting unsubstantiated or possibly manipulated findings with the most serious geo-political and security implications. Calls by some members of the Executive Council of the OPCW to allow all inspectors to be heard were blocked.”
The statement is signed by leading intellectuals, journalists and diplomats:
José Bustani, Ambassador of Brazil, first Director General of the OPCW and former Ambassador to the United Kingdom and France.
Professor Noam Chomsky, Laureate Professor U. of Arizona and Institute Professor (em), MIT.
Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor, Harper’s Magazine.
Daniel Ellsberg, PERI Distinguished Research Fellow, UMass Amherst. Former Defense and State Department official. Former official of Defense Department (GS-18) and State Department (FSR-1).
Professor Richard Falk, Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University.
Tulsi Gabbard, former Presidential candidate and Member of the US House of Representatives (2013-2021).
Professor Dr. Ulrich Gottstein, on behalf of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW-Germany).
Katharine Gun, former GCHQ (UKGOV), whistleblower.
Denis J. Halliday, UN Assistant Secretary-General (1994-98).
Professor Pervez Houdbhoy, Quaid-e-Azam University and ex Pugwash.
Kristinn Hrafnnson, Editor in Chief, Wikileaks.
Dr. Sabine Krüger, Analytical Chemist, Former OPCW Inspector 1997-2009.
Ray McGovern, ex-CIA Presidential Briefer; co-founder, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council (rtd); member, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.
Professor Götz Neuneck, Pugwash Council and German Pugwash Chair.
Dirk van Niekerk, former OPCW Inspection Team Leader, Head of OPCW Special Mission to Iraq
John Pilger, Emmy and Bafta winning journalist and film maker.
Professor Theodore A. Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Antonius Roof, former OPCW Inspection Team Leader and Head Industry Inspections.
Professor John Avery Scales, Professor, Pugwash Council and Danish Pugwash Chair.
Hans von Sponeck, former UN Assistant Secretary General and UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator (Iraq).
Alan Steadman, Chemical Weapons Munitions Specialist, Former OPCW Inspection Team Leader and UNSCOM Inspector.
Jonathan Steele, journalist and author.
Roger Waters, Musician and Activist.
Lord West of Spithead, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff 2002-06.
Oliver Stone, Film Director, Producer and Writer.
Colonel (ret.) Lawrence B. Wilkerson, U.S. Army, Visiting Professor at William and Mary College and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Rastgoo,
Thanks — this is the outcome of a WikiLeaks propaganda campaign, which — alongside Russia — has been running since March 2019 in an attempt to deny the chemical attacks and undermine the inspections of the OPCW.
The latest Wikileaks letter, in the guise of its “Courage Foundation”, recycles the claims of two — and only two — disgruntled ex-OPCW staffers. It exaggerates them into a “scandal”, with no regard to the OPCW’s Fact Finding Mission or indeed any other facts about the Douma chlorine attacks in April 2018.
That these folks signed this letter is a tribute to the propaganda effort. None of the signatories have shown any expertise on Douma (or the 30+ other Assad regime chemical attacks documented by the UN and OPCW) beyond the claims fed to them by WikiLeaks.
S.
You’re up to your old tricks again, attacking the messenger and not the message.
By my count, there are 5 ex-OPCW officials and scientists who have signed this statement. That is significant.
Sorry, but there is no getting away from the flawed interpretations made in the report, namely:
1. Lack of chlorination evidence in clothing and hair samples examined.
2. The bizarre claim about cylinders that crash through a roof hit, bounce on the floor and change direction before landing neatly on a bed.
3. The lack of information on the concentration levels of chlorinated compounds in the environment.
4. The lack of information on bromides in the environment (the main impurity found in industrial chlorine gas).
5. The lack of signs of chlorine poisoning in the video of children in Douma hospital.
6. The non-explanation of how chlorine gas exposed to to the air on a balcony could have seeped down to kill people on lower floors.
Nobody with an iota of knowledge in physics and chemistry can believe this account.
Just to remind you, it would not be first time that UN weapons inspectors were put under pressure to distort the facts: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/01/iraq-j07.html
Rastgoo,
1. There are *no* OPCW officials on the list who had any connection with Syria/Douma, or indeed with agency in recent years.
2. The rest of your point is ignorant of the FFM Final Report and the evidence within it — and of course of the OPCW investigators with more than an “iota of knowledge in physics and chemistry”.