One of the first videos of Syria's Arab Spring. The regime's increasing brutality led to increasing numbers in the streets demanding freedom, rights and dignity.
Maybe its wrong to engage in such fanciful musings on the [near?] future while innocent civilians are today being crushed by tanks and tortured in cellars, but one question preoccupied me this morning.
The Question: Throughout the developments in Lebanon of the past 6 years, detractors of the STL have used the argument that even if the STL were to indict [let alone find guilty] top members of the Syrian regime, no organisation, government or body was going to go into Syria, catch them, and deliver them to the Hague for trial and/or imprisonment. As the Arab Spring has swept through Syria, one possible body for the deliverance of those called to appear in the Hague has arisen, the Syrian people themselves. Would a victorious people's revolution in Syria hand over the top echelon of the Assad regime for prosecution in an international court for the murder and assassination of various Lebanese figures & personalities (including Rafic Hariri, of course) if it were possible? Or, given that the Syrian people have revolted against repression under the banner of dignity, would they insist that any prosecution of the Assad regime address first and foremost that regime's crimes against humanity perpetrated on the Syrian people? Their dignity and rights lend themselves the latter proposal, while the practicality of having a fully functional court and proceedings lend themselves to the former. Both of the propositions are presume a lot ... a lot a lot ... but why not, who would've thought we'd be here six months ago?
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