FinPol Digest

 The recent decision by French prosecutors to appeal the arrest warrant issued for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad raises serious doubts about the French judicial system's commitment to impartial justice. While the prosecutors do not dispute the evidence of Assad's involvement in crimes against humanity, their appeal suggests a concerning lack of political willpower to hold the Syrian leader accountable. The arrest warrant, issued in late June, was a significant step forward in the pursuit of justice for the victims of Assad's brutal crackdown on civilian populations, including the horrific chemical attacks in Adda, Douma, and Eastern Ghouta. The fact that the French judiciary recognized the gravity of these crimes and the irrelevance of a sitting head of state's immunity in such cases should have been celebrated as a victory for the rule of law. However, the prosecutors' decision to challenge this ruling at the Court of Cassation undermines the credibility of the ...

 French cement maker Lafarge has pleaded guilty in the US to supporting Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria and has agreed to pay a $777.8 million penalty. According to Reuters, the company which was bought by Switzerland's Holcim Group in 2015, made the admission yesterday in a New York federal court, making it the first time a company had pleaded guilty in the US to aid terrorists. Prosecutors had accused Lafarge and its Syrian subsidiary of Lafarge Cement Syria of paying Daesh and Al-Nusra Front (since rebranded as Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham) via intermediaries the equivalent of approximately $5.92 million between 2013 and 2014 in order to continue running its factory and using their checkpoints. This enabled the company to earn $70 million in revenues from its plant operating in Jalabiya near the Turkish border, the prosecution said. Lafarge eventually evacuated the plant in September 2014 after Daesh took control of the town and the factory and sold it for the equivalent of $...