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Australia Demands Syrian President Be Tried At The ICC

(RTTNews) - Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday urged the United Nations Security Council to refer Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the International Criminal Court to stand trial over atrocities committed by his security forces on the Syrian people as part of their efforts to quell an ongoing unrest.

"I believe it is high time that the Security Council now consider a formal referral of President Assad to the International Criminal Court," Rudd told the National Press Club. He indicated that he will be "corresponding with the UN secretary general today and the president of the Security Council today on that matter."

"When you see the large-scale directed action by a head of government against his own civilian population, then the deepest question arises in the minds of the people of the world as to whether any claim to legitimacy remains," Rudd said.

Referring to the case of a 13-year-old boy who was allegedly detained and tortured by security forces in the southern city of Deraa in April, Rudd said the boy's death would "further galvanize the international community in their attitude to the brutality being deployed in Syria at present by the regime against innocent people."

A day earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had condemned the boy's death, saying: "I can only hope that this child did not die in vain but that the Syrian government will end the brutality and begin a transition to real democracy."

The developments comes amidst an ongoing popular unrest against the rule of al-Assad in Syria. Although al-Assad issued general amnesty to all political prisoners on Tuesday in an apparent attempt to appease anti-government protesters, the move was rejected as "too little too late."

The Syrian government had earlier scrapped the nearly half-a-century old emergency laws, one of the key demands of the anti-government protesters. Citizenship was also granted to tens of thousands stateless people, mostly Kurds, living in the country's northeastern al-Hasaka region. But those concessions also failed to have the desired effect.

Despite the concessions, the Syrian government responded to the continuing protests by launching brutal crackdowns in unrest-hit towns and cities and using hundreds of troops and tanks to suppress anti-government protests.

Rights groups estimate that more than 850 people have been killed and over 8,000 others detained in police crackdowns since the pro-democracy protests began on March 15. In spite of the strong measures employed by the government to quell the unrest, protests are still continuing in towns and cities across the country.

The ongoing unrest is seen as the most serious challenge to al-Assad's rule in Syria since he came to power eleven years ago, succeeding his father Hafez al-Assad who ruled the Arab country for three decades. His government blames "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators for the ongoing unrest.

Earlier in the month, the European Union and the United States imposed separate sanctions on al-Assad and other senior Syrian officials in wake of the brutal repression of anti-government protests in the Middle East nation.

by RTT Staff Writer

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Discussion in parliament with regards to sending the Syrian Ambassador packing.

They might be calling for NATO air strikes next.

Assad's days are numbered now!