French judges have issued international arrest warrants for three senior officials within the regime of Bashar Al Assad. EPA/SANA
French judges have issued international arrest warrants for three senior officials within the regime of Bashar Al Assad. EPA/SANA

France seeks arrest of senior Syrians over custody deaths



France has issued arrest warrants for three high-ranking Syrian officials accused of complicity in the torture and death of a father and son after their detention in a notorious regime prison.

The three suspects include a senior lieutenant of Syrian president, reflecting French judicial views that responsibility for the deaths of Mazen Dabbagh, 58, and his son Patrick, 20, went to the top of the Syrian regime, said rights groups.

The two French-Syrian citizens were first detained in 2013 but their family only learned of their fate this year after the Syrian government released a list of 8,000 people who had died in detention.

“Mazen and Patrick had never been arrested previously and they had never been in any trouble with security services in Syria,” said Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for the International Federation for Human Rights which brought the case to French investigators in 2016. “The mystery is still total about why they were arrested.”

Rights groups say that the pair were among up to one million people arrested and detained in secret detention centres across the country since anti-regime protests started in 2011.

The wanted trio includes General Ali Mamlouk, who heads the National Security Bureau, and is seen as one of the most senior presidential advisers.

He was placed on an EU travel blacklist in 2011 but rights groups believe he flew to Rome for security talks with the Italian government in the summer.

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The other two men charged were from Air Force Intelligence services which arrested the two men. The powerful Major General Jamil Hassan runs the unit, while Abdel Salam Mahmoud is in charge of the Mezzeh detention facility in Damascus where the two men were held.

They are all wanted for complicity to crimes against humanity while Mr Mahmoud is also wanted for war crimes. France could not order an international arrest warrant for President Assad because he has immunity as head of state from prosecutions brought by national jurisdictions.

The arrest warrants will be circulated throughout the 192 Interpol member nations and should see them arrested if they travelled abroad in the future. Political realities mean that they would not be arrested in Syrian-allied nations like Russia and Iran.

One option if the men could not be brought to France would be to try them in their absence. France held such a trial in 2010 for 14 officials who served under the military rule of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for charges including kidnapping and torture related to the disappearance of four French citizens in the 1970s.

“This is a first victory and, I hope, the beginning of a new era of justice and accountability for crimes against humanity and war crimes committee in Syria,” said Obeida Dabbagh the brother of Mazen.

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What is a Ponzi scheme?

A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4

Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly

Ruwais timeline

1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established

1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants

1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed

1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.  

1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex

2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea

2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd

2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens

2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies

2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export

2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.

2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery 

2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital

2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13

Source: The National

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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

The specs

  Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now

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Emirates exiles

Will Wilson is not the first player to have attained high-class representative honours after first learning to play rugby on the playing fields of UAE.

Jonny Macdonald
Abu Dhabi-born and raised, the current Jebel Ali Dragons assistant coach was selected to play for Scotland at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2011.

Jordan Onojaife
Having started rugby by chance when the Jumeirah College team were short of players, he later won the World Under 20 Championship with England.

Devante Onojaife
Followed older brother Jordan into England age-group rugby, as well as the pro game at Northampton Saints, but recently switched allegiance to Scotland.

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Stree

Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed 

Credits

Produced by: Colour Yellow Productions and Eros Now
Director: Mudassar Aziz
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jassi Gill, Piyush Mishra, Diana Penty, Aparshakti Khurrana
Star rating: 2.5/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

Turkish Ladies

Various artists, Sony Music Turkey 

Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Rating: 2/5
 
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