Syrian regime slams US verdict on death of journalist Marie Colvin

A US court verdict that blamed the Syrian government for the killing of an American journalist was "politically motivated" and aimed to steal Syrian funds abroad, the head of Syria's Bar Association claimed on Tuesday, which is viewed as an extension of the regime.

Nizar Skeif told The Associated Press that "in my opinion this ruling has no legal value if there is a self-respecting justice".

US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson slapped Syria's regime with a $302 million judgement last month over the 2012 death of Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin.

Colvin - a renowned war correspondent whose harrowing career was celebrated in the recent Golden Globe-nominated film "A Private War" - was killed in the Syrian regime army's deliberate shelling of the Baba Amr Media Centre in Homs on 22 February 2012.

Skeif reiterated regime statements that said Colvin had entered the country illegally and stayed in areas controlled by the opposition, which the Syrian regime refers to as terrorists.

"This act, this crime if one was committed, it was committed by herself, for more than one reason," he said.

"The first reason is that she entered illegally and by smuggling to areas controlled by terrorists and in support of the terrorists. Second, who killed her? She was among the terrorists and in their embrace and she entered Syria without permission from the information ministry."

He added that foreigners who want to enter Syria should obtain a visa, because "entering Syria should be respected according to legal rules".

Lawyers for Colvin's family argued that her death was no accident. They hope to recover the $302 million verdict by targeting frozen Syrian government assets overseas.

Syria's war has seen around 500,000 people killed, the majority believed to be civilians killed by regime bombing and shelling.