US welcome ICJ order on Syria to stop torture, inhuman treatment
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The US welcomed on Friday an order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to Syria to stop torture and inhuman treatment.
The ICJ ordered the Syrian government to take all measures “to prevent acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
This development came after the Netherlands and Canada’s joint request to take “provisional measures,” aimed at stopping ongoing violations and supporting steps necessary for future proceedings.
The US Embassy in Syria welcomed the ICJ order and said it is a crucial measure “toward holding the Assad regime accountable for the reported torture of thousands of individuals over the past twelve years.”
The Embassy added on its Facebook account that the victims, survivors, and their families “deserve justice and accountability for atrocities” carried out by the Syrian government.
It called on the international community to seek “a durable political solution” in Syria, allowing its people “to achieve the justice they rightly deserve.”
The ICJ order follows the issuance of arrest warrants for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher al-Assad, and two other senior officials by French criminal investigative judges for complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes.
For his part, Paulo Pinheiro, chair of UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry (IICI), welcomed the “landmark order” issued in The Hague.
Pinheiro said, “This is a landmark order by the world’s top court to stop torture, enforced disappearances and deaths in Syria’s detention facilities.”
He added that such violations have been “a hallmark” over the 120-year-old Syrian war, stressing that this is the first time for the Syrian government to be “part of a judicial process.”
Commissioner Hanny Megally stressed that the ICJ order has “reignited hopes for justice.”