A joint UN-OPCW panel tasked with determining who was behind the deadly sarin gas attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun is facing heavy political pressure as it prepares to present its findings in mid-October, the head of the investigation said Thursday.
After meeting behind closed doors with the UN Security Council, Edmond Mulet complained of a “highly-politicized environment” in which unnamed “interested parties” were seeking to influence the panel.
“We do receive, unfortunately, direct and indirect messages all the time from many sides telling us how to do our work,” Mulet told reporters.
“Some of these messages are very clear in saying that if we don’t do our work according to them…then they will not accept the conclusions of our work,” he added.
Mulet did not name the countries but diplomats have said Russia has been active in pressuring the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM).
“The messages are coming from everywhere,” Mulet added, suggesting that Western powers were also in frequent contact with the panel.
During his meeting with council members, Mulet said he had appealed to them to “please let us do our work” and pledged that the investigators would be impartial, objective and independent.
The Security Council established the JIM in 2015 to investigate cases of suspected chemical weapons use in Syria and apportion blame for the attacks.
In previous reports, the JIM has already determined that Syrian government forces were responsible for chlorine attacks on three villages in 2014 and 2015, and that the Islamic State used mustard gas in 2015.
At least 87 people, including many children, were killed in the Khan Sheikhun attack in April. A fact-finding mission by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the deadly nerve agent sarin was used in the attack.
The United States, France and Britain have said the strike was carried out by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Washington launched a retaliatory cruise missile strike days later against a Syrian airbase from where it said the chemical weapons attack was launched.
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