Family of U.S. Journalist Marie Colvin Says She Was ‘Assassinated’ by Assad Regime

In a claim filed Monday in a Washington court, the family of Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin claimed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “assassinated” Colvin in 2012, according to The Guardian. The claim is the first “war crimes-related case” against the Syrian government to reach court, the newspaper reported. Colvin was an American reporter based out of London, and was killed alongside French photographer Remi Ochlik “in a targeted rocket attack” on a Homs media center, according to reports. “This deliberate, malicious conduct by the regime was undertaken in blatant violation of established rules of international law, and constitutes an extrajudicial killing,” the claim reads. The court documents also include testimony from an anonymous Syrian intelligence defector, who claimed the government celebrated Colvin’s death by saying that she “was a dog and now she’s dead. Let the Americans help her now.” Colvin’s family is reportedly relying on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for their case. It allows “claimants to sue foreign countries through the US courts for compensation and punitive damages,” the newspaper reported. The Syrian government reportedly “has declined to engage” with American courts on the claim. In an interview two years ago, Assad claimed that Colvin entered Syria illegally and was working with "terrorists."