Spanish Court Case Tests the Challenges of Universal Jurisdiction on Syrians · Global Voices
▻https://globalvoices.org/2017/10/02/spanish-court-case-tests-the-challenges-of-universal-jurisdiction-on-s
https://globalvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Screen-Shot-2017-09-29-at-1.35.15-PM-800x378.png For many years now, Syrian activists have been risking their physical and psychological well-being to document the Assad regime’s violations. Thanks to these efforts, the Syrian conflict “is going to be one of the most documented national conflicts in history, more than the Holocaust,” say lawyers for Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers, a legal advocacy group.
Nonetheless, the road to justice for the victims and their families is fraught with political and legal obstacles, as the case of Amal H. in Spain has proven.
Amal’s brother, Abdul-Mumen, disappeared during the war, and like thousands of other Syrians, the only source of information she had about the fate of her loved one were photos leaked by a former Syrian military photographer known as Caesar.
Abdul-Mumen happened to hold Spanish citizenship, which allowed Guernica 37 to invoke universal jurisdiction in Spain against regime officials responsible for his abduction, torture, and consequent death.