Abstract (eng)
This work defines the significance of human rights in the beginning. More precisely, it focuses on human rights abuses during the reign of Hafiz al-Asad and his successor Bashar al-Asad in the main part. Moreover it highlights the history of the ruling by the regime. The most meaningful movement regarding global jurisdiction were the trials of Nurnberg and Tokyo. The International Courthouse was founded in 1945 and is located in Den Haag. In fact, only countries are allowed to access this court. However, the International Criminal Court, which has its seat in Den Haag as well, is subject to fiercer criticism. This court has been founded by several states in order to pursue crimes against humanity, including mass killings, crimes against human rights, war crimes and many more. The human rights abuses against the Syrian people committed by al-Asad regime would be subject to investigations led by the International Criminal Court.
Hafiz al-Asad ousted the former President Nureddin al-Atassi on 11/13/1970 through a revolt in which he took power in Syria, after which he became Secretary General of the Ba'th Party at the end of the same year. Finally, he became the President of Syria in 1971. As the Syrian constitution required a Muslim to become president of Syria, Hafiz al-Asad as an Alewit, was confirmed as a Muslim by the Shia cleric Musa Al-Sadr. The Sunnis, which were opposed to Hafiz as a legit leader of the country, engineered a revolt against him and his regime. They were quelled and the Sunni muslimbrotherhood was exiled. After Hafiz’ death, the age limit for overtaking the rulership was reduced. This cleared the way for his son, Bashar al-Asad, who immediately took over the reign in Syria. During this time several companions of Hafiz al-Asad played an important role as they wanted to strengthen their power with the help of Bashar al-Asad. This is one example of one of the many human rights abuses conducted during the reign of Bashar al-Asad: On May 27th, 2010, agents of the criminal police arrested Jalal al-Koubaisi, aged 33, in al-Hamidiya Souk in Damascus. Al-Koubaisi’s crime was to work as a washish. This is the practice of luring potential consumers to certain shops to buy products from there. According to Syrian law this is forbidden and the sentence for it is five Syrian pounds. However, instead of charging him with this amount of money, the agents abducted him to an unknown location. His family was not told about his whereabouts. This criminal behavior on behalf of the regime and his followers encouraged a great part of the population to start an uprising against it. One of the most important triggers of the rebellion were the children of Daraa, a city located in the southern part of the country. They sprayed grafitti on some walls demanding the falling of the regime. They were immediately arrested and severely tortured. The characteristics of the current situation in Syria are various human rights abuses and bloody repressions against protesters opposed to the regime.