Canada and Netherlands take Syria to ICJ over alleged torture

Both countries said Damascus has committed 'countless' violations of international law

The International Court of Justice in The Hague. Reuters

Canada and the Netherlands are taking Syria to the International Court of Justice over allegations of torture, the court said on Monday, marking the first such case against Damascus over the country's 12-year-long civil war.

The two countries filed a case against Syria on Thursday “concerning alleged violations of the [UN's] Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” the ICJ said in a press release.

Damascus has committed “countless violations of international law” since the civil war began, the court quoted them as saying, beginning with the “violent repression” of civilian protesters.

Canada and the Netherlands decided to act in 2020 after Russia blocked multiple efforts in the United Nations Security Council to refer a case on human rights violations in Syria to the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes individuals for war crimes and is also based in The Hague.

If the ICJ is found to have jurisdiction, it would be the first international court to rule on the alleged use of torture during Syria's brutal civil war.

In their application, Canada and the Netherlands claim that “Syria has committed countless violations of International law, beginning at least in 2011,” and they ask for emergency measures to be taken to protect those at risk of being tortured, the ICJ said in a statement.

It detailed allegations of torture, enforced disappearances and sexual violence, among other crimes, including the use of chemical weapons “which has been a particularly abhorrent practice to intimidate and punish the civilian population.”

Damascus ratified the UN's Convention Against Torture in 2004.

The government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has been accused of torturing and killing thousands of civilians during the lengthy civil war, which erupted after the government's repression of mass street protests in 2011.

Syrian officials have been found guilty of torture in Germany.

In January, a former Syrian intelligence officer was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of crimes against humanity by a German court.

The trial of Anwar Raslan was the first to prosecute over Syrian state-sponsored abuse.

He was found guilty of overseeing the murder of 27 people and the torture of 4,000 others at the Al Khatib detention centre in Damascus between April 2011 and September 2012. More than 80 people testified in the trial.

In April, a Syrian-American filed a civil lawsuit against Damascus in a US court for allegedly detaining and torturing him.

Obada Mzaik said he filed the case “in the name of all the many Syrians who were tortured in detention centres but who don’t have the opportunity to obtain justice.”