Justice for slain journalist Marie Colvin as Syria’s al-Assad is issued arrest warrant for her murder

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

September 12, 2025

HRRC welcomes France’s arrest warrants for former Syrian president al-Assad and six other officials responsible for the murder of journalists Marie Colvin and Rémi Ochli. We call on the international community to aid the French court in bringing those responsible for their murders to justice.

Marie Colvin and Rémi Ochlik. [Image credit: AFP/SUNDAY TIMES]

Amid growing impunity for killings of journalists worldwide, a French court has issued arrest warrants for former Syrian President Bashir al-Assad and six other former top officials for the murder of American war correspondent Marie Colvin in a targeted assassination in 2012. 

The individuals, who also include al-Assad’s brother Maher al-Assad, the former Syrian intelligence chief, and the army chief of staff at the time of Colvin’s killing, are currently being investigated by France for crimes against humanity and war crimes. They are accused of directing the assassination of Colvin via a missile strike in the Syrian city of Homs, where Colvin was reporting at the time. 

In addition to Colvin, French photographer Rémi Ochli was killed in the strike, which also wounded journalists Paul Conroy and Edith Bouvier and translator Wael Omar.

Colvin, a legendary war correspondent, had previously reported on conflicts in Chechnya, the Balkans, East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Sri Lanka before covering the Syrian Civil War in 2012. While reporting in the rebel-held neighborhood of Baba Amr in the city of Homs, the building that she and her team were using as a makeshift press center was hit by a Syrian army rocket.

Syrian authorities reportedly traced a satellite signal she had used to appear live on CNN, in which she recounted witnessing the death of a young child killed by Syrian army rocket fire, to target her location. 

The arrest warrant for al-Assad and the six Syrian officials apply to all European Union states, which would also be required to arrest the individuals if discovered in their borders. Al-Assad is currently believed to be in Russia, where he fled following a successful offensive by Syrian rebels on the capital of Damascus in 2024. The whereabouts of the other six figures are unknown. 

The court order is a rare bright spot for justice and accountability for murdered journalists, even as the number of journalists killed globally is at an all-time high. This year alone, 47 journalists have been confirmed killed, including 18 journalists who have been murdered, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The vast majority are Palestinian journalists killed by Israel in Gaza.

The Sunday Times, the U.K.-based paper for which Colvin reported for the majority of her career, welcomed the French ruling, and compared the arrest warrant for al-Assad to the indictment of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the Bosnian War. 

“He [Assad] and his officials will now be arrested and sent to be tried in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity if they cross into the West. That may be no time soon, but it was 13 years between the indictment and arrest of the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide. He is now serving a life sentence in jail,” the paper said. 

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Glossary 

• Arrest warrant – authorization from a judge or legal authority for law enforcement to arrest an individual.

• Assassination – a planned attack on a person.

• Bombardment – attacking an area with artillery or bombs, often indiscriminately. 

• Crime against humanity – an action that grossly violates the human rights of an individual. Crimes against humanity include torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and rape and sexual violence.

• Genocide – the attempt to destroy, in whole or in part, n ethnic, national, religious, or other group. Examples include, but are not limited to, the Rwanda Genocide and the Holocaust.

• Impunity – a lack of accountability for crimes committed. 

• Indictment – a formal charge of committing a crime. 

• Makeshift – a temporary construction meant to serve for a limited period of time.

• Murder – a premeditated act of violence with the intent to kill. 

• Offensive – a military operation that seeks to occupy or conquer territory. 

• War correspondent – a journalist who largely covers wars and conflicts. 

• War crime – actions that violate the laws of war, as outlined in international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions.