Reports | 25 05 2020
The human rights activist Bassam Al-Ahmad, said that the file of using chemical weapons in the eastern Ghouta, has not seen any practical or legal development, on the perpetrators’ accountability, since the chemical "massacre" three years ago, until today.
Bassam said in a telephone conversation with "Rozana": "the international committee in charge said in its reports that sarin material was used in alarming quantities, and after that there was a big pressure on the regime to hand over its stock of chemical weapons, but legally this was not followed by any further action and the international community could only disarm weapons."
Al-Ahmad stressed that what happened in Ghouta, is a war crime and a crime against humanity, and those crimes are not a statute of limitations, as he says.
And on accusing the Syrian regime of using chemical weapons, Al-Ahmad said: "The majority of human rights organizations stressed in their reports that the Syrian regime has really used chemical weapons, but the mission of the Inquiry Committee that reached Ghouta, was only to make sure of using the chemical weapon, and in the end, they only disarmed the regime t of chemical weapons." according to him.
Al-Ahmed said during the call, that the UN Security Council, is still closed in the face of converting the Syrian file to the International Criminal Court, and "that is linked to a political decision."
The activist added: "Unfortunately, even after the disarmament of chemical weapons, several chemical chlorine gas attacks took place more than once in Syria, and It has been proven."
About the punishment Stated by the international laws, for crimes of this kind, Al-Ahmad replied: "The Security Council as a body is not authorized to define the perpetrator, and its role is only to form an investigation committee composed of experts, and this actually happened."
In the end of his speech, he said: "But if the Security Council was asked to form another committee, it should do it, and in the second phase, that committee would be able to convert the file to the International Criminal Court, and the court will issue its decision and identify the perpetrators, and the penalty that will impose against them."
It is noteworthy that the day of 21-August, is the third anniversary of the death of about 1,500 people in Syria in a chemical attack by the Syrian regime, on many cities in Ghouta, like Zamalka, Arbin in Eastern Ghouta, and the city of Darya in the western Ghouta .
The organization "Human Rights Watch" said after 20 days of the attack, that it has strong evidence suggests a poison attack, carried out by the Syrian regime forces, and they came to that conclusion after analyzing the stories told by witnesses and information and the remnants of the weapons that have been used and Medical records of victims.
And a report was published on September 16, 2013, by the Commission of the United Nations inspection that indicated that the sarin gas launched by surface-to-surface missiles. The report said that the attack happened during the suitable time of the day, where the temperature drops between the second and five in the morning, which means that the air was moving down toward the ground, what ensured the injury or the death of the greatest possible number of people.
At that time, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon commented saying: "This is a serious crime and we must bring those responsible to justice as soon as possible," and added: "Assad has committed crimes against humanity, and must be held accountable for his crimes."