France issued arrest warrant against Syrian President, how is this possible?

 

World News French judges have issued an arrest warrant against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians in Syria. According to Reuters report, arrest warrants have also been issued for President Assad's brother Maher al-Assad and two other senior officials.

The arrest warrant has been issued on allegations of involvement in crimes against humanity and war crimes. The case relates to the criminal investigation into chemical attacks in the city of Douma and the Eastern Ghouta district in August 2013. The attacks in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

First international arrest warrant against Assad:

According to Reuters report, this is the first international arrest warrant that has been issued for the Syrian head of state. Let us tell you that Assad's forces had responded to the protests that started in 2011 with brutal action, which UN experts said was equivalent to a war crime.

Mazen Darwish, a lawyer and founder of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), which filed the case in France, said these are also the first international arrest warrants issued over a chemical weapons attack in Ghouta.

Syria has reportedly denied using chemical weapons, but a previous joint investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons found that the Syrian government had used the nerve agent sarin in the April 2017 attack and had repeatedly Chlorine was used as a weapon.

Is it possible for a head of state to issue such an arrest warrant ?

It is rare for an arrest warrant to be issued against a head of state because he or she usually enjoys immunity from prosecution.

But there are exceptions to this exemption in international law. This occurs when a head of state is accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.

The International Criminal Court currently has two arrest warrants against heads of state: one against current Russian President Vladimir Putin and the other against former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.