FRANCE ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS ON SYRIA THREE INTERNATIONAL ARREST WARRANTS TARGET HIGHRANKING AL-ASSAD REGIME OFFICIALS The Dabbagh family investigation Context Ongoing investigation in France for international crimes committed in Syria in 2013 Suspects Ali Mamluk, director of the National Security Bureau; Jamil Hassan, head of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, director of an Air Force Intelligence investigative branch Country of residence of suspects Syria Charges Complicity in crimes against humanity, torture and enforced disappearances; war crimes Developments in 2018 In October 2018, in an unprecedented step towards accountability for crimes committed in Syria, French judges issued international arrest warrants against three high-level regime suspects: Ali Mamluk and Jamil Hassan, also subject to an arrest warrant issued in Germany earlier this year, are both wanted for complicity in crimes against humanity, torture and enforced disappearances. Abdel Salam Mahmoud, in charge of the Air Force Intelligence investigative branch at Mezzeh military airport in Damascus, a detention site with one of the highest mortality rates in Syria according to the UN’s Commission of Inquiry, is wanted on war crimes charges as well as complicity in crimes against humanity, torture and enforced disappearances. Current status Judicial investigation ongoing; international arrest warrants issued Facts In November 2013, Patrick Dabbagh and his father, Mazen Dabbagh, both dual French-Syrian nationals, were arrested from their home in Damascus by Syrian Air Force Intelligence agents and detained for interrogation at the Mezzeh investigative branch. Neither one has been seen since. In summer 2018, the Dabbagh family received formal notification from the Syrian authorities that Patrick and Mazen had died. Procedure On 24 October 2016, a complaint was filed with the Paris High Court by Obeida Dabbagh, a Syrian-French national, on behalf of his brother and nephew, Mazen and Patrick Dabbagh, both Syrian-French nationals, together with FIDH and LDH. Obeida Dabbagh alleged that they were arrested in 2013 in Syria by the Air Force Intelligence Directorate and detained at the investigative branch in Mezzeh (Damascus). They have since disappeared. A judicial investigation into torture, crimes against humanity, 23 and enforced disappearances is ongoing before the French specialized unit for the prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture within the Paris High Court (hereinafter: the specialized unit), resulting in the issuance of three international arrest warrants against the high-ranking regime officers. Read more about the case