France’s highest court on Friday (July 25, 2025) upheld some of Syrian ex-leader Bashar Assad’s personal immunity as a head of state while green-lighting possible future war crime warrants, drawing criticism from human rights lawyers and Syrian activists.

The Cour de Cassation upheld Assad’s head-of-state immunity, but added that since he is no longer in office, “new arrest warrants may have been or may be issued against him for acts that may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.” The decision is a blow to activists who had hoped the court would set aside the immunity, a decision that could have had far-reaching consequences for other leaders accused of atrocities.

“From our side as a victim, this is a huge mistake. This will support another dictatorship to keep doing this kind of crime — they know they will enjoy immunity,” said Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Centre for Media, which collected evidence of war crimes.

“It is a sad day for us,” Mr. Darwish said.

Missed opportunity for justice

The president of the Cour de Cassation, Christophe Soulard, said in the ruling that 19 judges had declined to lift Assad’s immunity, but that a new arrest warrant could be issued to pave the way for his trial in absentia in France over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013.

Human rights lawyers had sought to enable prosecution of leaders linked to atrocities while they are in power, not just when they leave. But international law currently forbids it.

“Under current international law, crimes against humanity and war crimes are not exceptions to the principle of jurisdictional immunity for sitting foreign heads of state,” Mr. Soulard said.

Assad, the former leader of Syria now in exile in Russia, retained no lawyers for these charges and has denied that he was behind the chemical attacks.

“The court’s ruling is a missed opportunity for justice,” said Mariana Pena, a lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, which helped bring the case to the court. But she said that the ruling “leaves the door open to the prosecution of Assad.”