A French court has issued arrest warrants for seven former top Syrian officials, including ex-President Bashar al-Assad, for the bombing of a press center in Homs, a judicial source and a human rights organization said.
A rocket hit the “informal press center” on February 22, 2012, killing renowned U.S. journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik and injuring two other journalists and an interpreter.
Besides al-Assad, warrants have also been issued against his brother Maher al-Assad, who was the de facto head of the 4th Syrian armored division at the time, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub, among others.
“The judicial investigation clearly established that the attack was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists in order to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” said Mazen Darwish, a lawyer and the general director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, in a statement.
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