MESOP FOCUS : Family of Slain U.S. Journalist Sues Assad Government:

 

The San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability and co-counsel Shearman & Sterling LLP filed a lawsuit against the Syrian government for the murder of American journalist Marie Colvin during a targeted artillery attack on the improvised media center from which she was working. This case represents the first attempt to hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime responsible for war conduct under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, a federal law that allows individuals to sue state sponsors of terrorism for the murder of U.S. citizens. According to press advocacy groups, at least 200 journalists have been killed since the outbreak of the civil war and hundreds more have gone missing.