Sen. Durbin urges administration to increase pressure on Syria

“We write to express our deepening concern for the situation in Syria where government led violence against peaceful protesters continues to escalate,” wrote Durbin, the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. “[G]iven the Syrian government’s brutal and well documented crackdown, including the use of rooftop snipers, shelling of residential neighborhoods, disappearances, and torture, it is paramount that the Security Council refers credible allegations of crimes against humanity by President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime to the ICC.”

The ICC is a permanent international tribunal set up to prosecute crimes against humanity.