Facts
In November 2013, Patrick Dabbagh and his father Mazen Dabbagh, both dual French-Syrian nationals, were arrested in their home in Damascus by Syrian Air Force Intelligence agents and detained for interrogation at the al-Mezzeh detention center. Neither one has been seen since. In summer 2018, the Dabbagh family received formal notification from the Syrian authorities that Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh had died. According to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria, the al-Mezzeh detention center has one of the highest mortality rates in Syria.
Procedure
On 24 October 2016, a complaint was filed before the Paris Tribunal by Obeida Dabbagh, a Syrian-French national, on behalf of his nephew and brother, Mazen and Patrick Dabbagh, together with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member organization in France, the Ligue des droits de l’Homme.
In October 2018, judges of the specialized unit for the prosecution of international crimes issued international arrest warrants against Jamil Hassan, former head of Air Force Intelligence; Ali Mamluk, former director of the National Security Bureau; and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, director of the Air Force Intelligence Branch in Damascus.
On 31 March 2022, the investigative judges decided to complete the judicial investigation.
On 27 January 2023, the prosecutor requested Hassan, Mamluk and Mahmoud be sent to trial before the Paris Criminal Court for complicity in the crimes against humanity of deliberate attacks on life, torture, enforced disappearance and imprisonment or other serious deprivation of liberty as well as the war crimes of extortion and concealment of extortion of property committed against Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh.
On 29 March 2023, the investigative judge ordered their indictment before the Paris Criminal Court on the same charges.
Ali Mamluk, Jamil Hassan and Abdel Salam Mahmoud were tried in absentia before the Paris Criminal Court from 21 to 24 May 2024.
On 24 May 2024, they were sentenced to life imprisonment for the crimes against humanity of deliberate attacks on life, torture, enforced disappearance and imprisonment or other serious deprivation of liberty as well as the war crimes of extortion of property committed against Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh.
The judges found that Mamluk, Hassan and Mahmoud’s functional immunity could not be invoked given the charges of international crimes brought against them.