Paris Wants Syria Regime Dragged before ICC, Doha Backs Arming Rebels
France said on Monday that it wants to see the Syrian regime dragged before an international court of justice, as Qatar announced it was in favor of delivering arms to rebels battling the Syrian government.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, speaking during a break in talks between EU foreign ministers, said he would plead for legal action during a visit later Monday in Geneva, where he will attend the United Nations Human Rights Council.
"I will say this afternoon in Geneva that I hope to see the international community reflect on the conditions of a referral to the ICC," he said.
"This is a difficult dossier," he said, adding that as Syria was not a party to the Rome convention establishing the International Criminal Court, the ICC could not initiate action itself.
Juppe said it would be up to the U.N. Security Council to refer the matter.
"So we will have to continue thinking and gathering elements that would enable a referral," he added.
Meanwhile, Qatar's prime minister said he was in favor of delivering arms to the Syrian opposition that is battling President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
"We should do whatever necessary to help them, including giving them weapons to defend themselves," Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said during an official visit to Norway.
"This uprising in Syria now (has lasted) one year. For 10 months, it was peaceful: nobody was carrying weapons, nobody was doing anything. And Bashar continued killing them," he told a news conference.
"So I think they're right to defend themselves by weapons and I think we should help these people by all means," he added.
More than 7,600 people have been killed in violence across Syria since anti-regime protests erupted in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Source: Agence France Presse
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