Intersectional Syria

@intersectsyria.bsky.social

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Resources on Syria and intentional, attentive and intersectional solidarity from free Syrians with causes of liberation across the world.

Today, mass demonstrations are expected to erupt all over the city after Friday prayers. The first Friday prayers where imams stand on the pulpit giving a sermon to free Syrians in a free Syria, where they are free truly to say what they want - outside of state control.
Protests largely would start after Friday prayers in the mosque, and make their way down to town squares. The Assad regime used to respond with live ammunition, snipers, bombs and tear gas. Tanks would pull up to disperse, kill and obstruct. Many demonstrations would turn into funerals, and many funerals would turn into demonstrations. Repeatedly, the regime would kill mourners in funeral processions. There was no safety from what was to come in those protests despite the safety people felt among each other, and many of those eventually forcibly disappeared were picked up from those demonstrations.
Fridays, aside being the most important day of the week for Muslims, are fundamental to the Syrian revolution as the day where mass demonstrations erupt all over the city simultaneously - demanding the fall of the Assad regime.
Today is the first Assad-free Friday in Syria since March 1971.
Through the advocacy and efforts of Syrian civil society, some European countries are taking steps to pursue justice for the war crimes committed by the Assad regime. Landmark cases include Germany’s conviction of Anwar Raslan for crimes against humanity, France’s arrest warrant for Bashar Assad’s chemical attack massacres, and Switzerland’s charges against Rifaat al-Assad for his crimes against humanity in the 1982 Hama massacre.
Whilst Israel is not party to the Rome Statute, Palestine is. In 2015, Palestine accepted the ICC's jurisdiction, granting it the authority to investigate alleged crimes committed on its territory, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. The ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber ruled in 2021 that it has jurisdiction over crimes committed in these areas. This applies to individuals regardless of their nationality, meaning Israeli officials can be investigated when their committed crimes are determined within these territories.
Syria’s pathway to the ICC was closed due to the veto and its not being a member state. That said, recent historic ICC decisions could re-open the door for Syria’s situation.
Syria has not ratified the Rome Statute The ICC only has jurisdiction over crimes committed in countries that are party to the Rome Statute, which is the ICC's founding treaty, or when a country accepts its jurisdiction. Syria didn’t ratify the Rome Statute, so the ICC does not have automatic jurisdiction over crimes committed there.
Why has Assad not yet been tried by the International Criminal Court?