Time runs short for Congress to pass Syrian legislation

With the congressional term drawing to a close, a Syrian defector who exposed the scale of the humanitarian crisis in his country is making a final push for US legislation that would attempt to hold Bashar Assad accountable for violations of international law.

The legislation, known as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2018, would employ diplomatic pressure and “coercive economic means” to compel the Assad regime to end its killing of civilians and bring about a government that respects “the rule of law, human rights and peaceful co-existence with its neighbors.”

The legislation’s title is based on the pseudonym of the defector, a former Assad military policeman who smuggled evidence of systematic torture and killings out of the country. Caesar worked as a forensic photographer for the Assad military police and was tasked with documenting the regime’s campaign of torture and killing.

He managed to escape with more than 50,000 images out of the country on flash drives, and he has worked with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, an advocacy group, to draw attention to the regime’s widespread abuses.

A potent public reaction to the images prompted Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.) to introduce the legislation in 2017. The bill, now with a long list of co-sponsors, has twice passed the House and has cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The bill still must win passage by the full Senate.

The legislation would require the Treasury Department to determine whether the Syrian central bank is engaged in money laundering, and to impose sanctions on individuals who provide support to the regime. Penalties would include financial sanctions as well as restrictions on visas or entry into the US.

The bill directs the US president to consider sanctions against Assad regime officials for their role in human rights abuses. Among those officials are Bashar Assad, the prime minister, its council of ministers, and leaders of its armed forces and intelligence services.

Assad regime’s officials have dismissed the photos as fabrications, calling Caesar a fugitive and asserting that many of the images depict people killed by extremists.

Caesar, through a translator, told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that the legislation offers “a final chance not only for the hundreds of thousands that remain in jail the same fate as those we took photos of.” He remains in hiding in Western Europe because of fears for his family members.

The White House offered support for the measure last week, citing its utility in holding the Assad regime accountable for past actions and preventing new atrocities.

“It would facilitate the continued use of economic sanctions and visa restrictions to hold accountable members of the Assad regime who are responsible for or complicit in the serious human rights abuses and war crimes committed against innocent Syrians,” the White House statement said.

Ambassador James Jeffrey, the State Department’s special representative for Syria engagement, supported the bill in Nov. 29 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Caesar said the Trump administration has been more forceful in its support for the legislation than was the Obama administration, which he said “deserted the Syrian people in their time of need, and left the Syrian scene to the Russians and the Iranians and the Iranian militias that wreak havoc.”

Ned Price, a former spokesman for the National Security Council under President Barack Obama, said, “There is a misperception that the United States failed to act to rid Syria of its chemical weapons.” Mr. Obama sought congressional authorization to take military action against the Assad regime, Mr. Price added. After that endeavor failed, the administration employed diplomatic means to force Assad to declare and destroy 1,300 tons of chemical weapons.

President Trump authorized US airstrikes on Assad military targets in April 2017 after Assad deployed chemical weapons against civilians. A year later, the US was joined by the UK and France in launching additional strikes after Assad was accused of using sarin gas against civilians.

Caesar, who has testified in disguise before Congress, said his motivation in publicizing the disturbing evidence he had amassed was to provide the families of victims information on the fate of their loved ones.

“The international community, as far are we are concerned, has given no real reaction to what is unfolding in Syria,” he said.

In the US Senate, a single lawmaker can block legislation from passing under “unanimous consent” procedures that allow a bill to pass without a formal vote.

Mr. Engel, the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has said that one senator has prevented the bill from going before senators. “I urge him to lift that hold so that this bill can become law,” Mr. Engel said last week on the House floor.

A person familiar with the situation said the hold was imposed by Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.). Mr. Paul’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

But other avenues to becoming law are still possible. The bill’s backers say they hope to attach the measure to a must-pass vehicle, such as an end-of-year spending bill to avert a government shutdown.

By Courtney McBride

Edited according to Orient Net. Link for the original source of WSJ