Latest news with #AlaaM
Asharq Al-Awsat
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Germany Hands Syrian Doctor Life for Torturing Assad Critics
A Syrian doctor who had practiced in Germany was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Monday for crimes against humanity and war crimes after he was found guilty of torturing dissidents in Syria. The 40-year-old, identified only as Alaa M. in accordance with German privacy laws, was found guilty of killing two people and torturing another eight during his time working in Syria as a doctor at a military hospital and detention center in Homs in 2011 and 2012. The court said his crimes were part of a systematic attack against people protesting against then-President Bashar al-Assad that precipitated the country's civil war. Assad was toppled in December. His government denied it tortured prisoners. Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015, after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, and became one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system. He was arrested in June 2020, and was handed a life sentence without parole, the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt said in a statement. The defendant had pleaded not guilty, saying he was the target of a conspiracy. German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world. They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years. The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes". Judges found that the doctor caused "considerable physical suffering" as a result of the torture inflicted on his victims, which included serious beatings, mistreating wounds and inflicting serious injury to the genitals of two prisoners, one of whom was a teenage boy. Two patients died after he gave them lethal medication, the court statement said. Monday's ruling can be appealed.
ABC News
18 hours ago
- Health
- ABC News
Syrian doctor guilty of torture and war crimes sentenced to life in prison
A Syrian doctor found guilty of killing two people and torturing nine in Syria has been sentenced to life in prison by a German court. Warning: This story contains details that readers may find distressing. The 40-year-old doctor, who was arrested in June 2020, five years after fleeing to Germany among a large influx of Syrian refugees, was handed a life sentence without parole. The defendant, identified as Alaa M. as per German privacy laws, was accused of torturing opponents of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while serving as a physician at a military prison and hospitals in Homs and Damascus in 2011 and 2012. In court, Alaa M. pleaded not guilty and said he was the target of a conspiracy. Prosecutors charged Alaa M. with over a dozen counts of torture and accused him of killing a prisoner. He is also accused of burning and injuring inmates' genitals in two separate cases. In one instance, he allegedly performed a bone fracture correction surgery without adequate anaesthesia. The doctor also worked at the Mezzeh 601 military hospital in Damascus, a facility known for its role in the Syrian regime's torture apparatus. In his verdict, presiding judge Christoph Koller said the doctor had sadistic tendencies and acted them out during the torture. During the trial, which lasted almost three-and-a-half years, victims had described the most severe abuse, including beatings, kicks and the setting of wounds and body parts on fire, German news agency DPA reported. The plaintiffs were supported by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), which has brought similar cases to German courts in the past. ECCHR lawyer Patrick Kroker called Monday's ruling "a further step towards a comprehensive reckoning with Assad's crimes". "Judgements like these are milestones on which a further reappraisal of the crimes, which will hopefully one day also be possible in Syria, can build," he said in a statement emailed to Reuters. Alaa M. arrived in Germany in 2015 and worked as a doctor, becoming one of roughly 10,000 Syrian medics who helped ease acute staff shortages in the country's healthcare system. According to Human Rights Watch, the hospital's morgues and courtyard appeared in a cache of photographs that documented widespread, state-sponsored abuse of civilians. The images were smuggled out of Syria by a former Syrian military photographer codenamed Caesar. The Assad government, which was toppled in December 2024, denied it tortured prisoners. German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world. They have targeted several former Syrian officials in similar cases in recent years. A spokesperson for the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt could not be immediately reached for comment. Reuters/AP
Euronews
19 hours ago
- Euronews
German court sentences Syrian torture doctor to life imprisonment
A German court has sentenced a Syrian doctor to life imprisonment for killing two people and torturing nine others in his homeland between 2011 and 2012. The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court delivered the verdict after a trial that lasted almost three and a half years. The 40-year-old defendant, identified only as Alaa M due to German privacy law, was accused of committing crimes against perceived opponents of the Assad regime at military hospitals in Homs and Mezzeh at the start of the Syrian civil war. The man, who later worked as an orthopaedic surgeon in northern Hesse, was detained in Germany in 2020 and was charged with murder, torture and crimes against humanity. Alaa M pleaded not guilty, alleging that he was the victim of a conspiracy. However, the Frankfurt court established that the particular gravity of his guilt, meaning that he is unlikely to be released after 15 years, as is often the case in Germany when people receive life sentences. Christoph Koller, the presiding judge, told the German news agency dpa that the doctor had sadistic tendencies. 'Above all, the accused enjoyed harming people that seemed inferior and low-value to him,' Koller said. "No torturer can be certain of impunity, no matter where he is," he added. Koller said the Syrian doctor's sentencing would not have been possible without the willingness and courage of witnesses to share the details of their suffering. Alaa M travelled to Germany in 2015 and worked as an orthopaedic surgeon in clinics in Hessisch Lichtenau (Werra-Meißner) and Bad Wildungen (Waldeck-Frankenberg). His trial began in 2022, two years after his arrest, which occurred after witnesses recognised him from a documentary about Homs. A ballistic missile fired from Iran struck the wall of a building in central Israel on Monday, breaching a reinforced shelter, a preliminary investigation by Israel's civilian protection military body has revealed. At least four people were killed in that strike: three were found inside the shelter and one in a nearby building, where it is believed the force of the blast threw them. Rescue teams were deployed to try to free those believed to be trapped under the rubble. The incident has sparked widespread concern across Israel and intensified public anger towards the government amid reports that bunkers are failing to withstand strikes from heavy missiles. The Israel Hayom daily paper quoted the Israeli Home Front Command as stating that approximately 40% of Tel Aviv residents live in buildings without shelters that meet current safety standards, and that tens of thousands of older buildings in the city lack proper protective infrastructure. Tel Aviv and Haifa are already facing a severe shortage of bomb shelters amid escalating Iranian attacks. Israel Hayom quoted residents in the capital as saying they "have no shelter", adding that neighbours "are closing their shelter doors to us." The shelter crisis gained renewed urgency after a spokesperson for the Iranian army declared that "shelters are no longer safe" and urged Israelis to evacuate all territories. Israel's 1951 Civil Defence Law mandates that all residential and commercial buildings must include bomb shelters, although multiple buildings may share a single shelter. Arab communities within the Green Line, the 1949 international boundary between Lebanon and Mandatory Palestine, also face significant gaps in preparedness against rocket attacks, largely due to longstanding neglect. This includes a lack of adequate shelters and what many view as clear discrimination in the Israeli air defence system, which often designates Arab towns as "open areas," effectively excluding them from active protection during emergencies. There is also a noted lack of compliance among some Arab citizens with Home Front Command guidelines, further complicating emergency response efforts. On Saturday, Israeli air defences failed to intercept an Iranian missile, which hit a building in the city of Tamra. Four were killed in that strike, and several others were injured. Tamra's Mayor Musa Abu Rumi told international media that only 40% of the town's 37,000 residents have access to safe rooms or adequate shelters. He also noted that Tamra lacks public bunkers, which are common in most Israeli cities and towns. In response to the recent Iranian attacks, the municipality has decided to open educational facilities as shelters for residents who don't feel safe at home. Shelter standards vary worldwide, shaped by each country's individual security threats, economic capacity, infrastructure and regulatory frameworks. In conflict zones like Iran, Lebanon and Yemen, authorities often rely on metro stations and schools as makeshift shelters, as purpose-built fortified rooms are scarce. Design, deployment and capacity criteria for bunkers also differ significantly. For example, Switzerland boasts over 370,000 nuclear shelters, which are sufficient to accommodate its entire population. Near Prague lies one of the most secretive nuclear shelters, a product of a 1980s collaboration between the then Soviet Union and what was at the time Czechoslovakia. The world's largest underground bunker, known as the Oppidum, has been renovated to include a swimming pool, a helicopter landing pad and advanced defence systems.
Arab News
20 hours ago
- Arab News
German court sentences Syrian doctor to life in prison for torture and war crimes in his homeland
BERLIN: A German court sentenced a Syrian doctor to life imprisonment for torture and war crimes in his Syrian homeland on Monday for killing two people and torturing nine in Syria between 2011 and 2012. The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court also established the particular gravity of the guilt, which in practice virtually rules out early release after 15 years — as is often the case in Germany when people are sentenced to life imprisonment. The 40-year-old Syrian, who was identified as Alaa M. in line with German privacy rules, was placed in preventive detention, German news agency dpa reported. In his verdict, presiding judge Christoph Koller described the actions of the accused in the military hospital in the Syrian city of Homs in the early stages of the civil war that began in 2011. He said the doctor had sadistic tendencies and acted them out during the torture. 'Above all, the accused enjoyed harming people that seemed inferior and low-value to him,' Koller said, according to dpa. During the trial, which lasted almost three and a half years, victims had described the most severe abuse, including beatings, kicks and the setting of wounds and body parts on fire, dpa reported. Koller emphasized that without the willingness and courage of witnesses to share the details of their suffering the facts of the case could not have been clarified. M. had lived in Germany for ten years and had worked as an orthopedic surgeon in several clinics, most recently in Bad Wildungen in northern Hesse. In summer 2020, he was arrested after some of his victims had recognized him from a TV documentary about Homs, dpa reported. The doctor supposedly tortured prisoners who were considered part of the opposition to former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. The trial against him began in January 2022. Alaa M. described himself as not guilty during the trial, alleging that he was the victim of a conspiracy, dpa wrote. The verdict is not yet final.
The Independent
20 hours ago
- The Independent
German court sentences Syrian doctor to life in prison for torture and war crimes in his homeland
A German court sentenced a Syrian doctor to life imprisonment for torture and war crimes in his Syrian homeland on Monday for killing two people and torturing nine in Syria between 2011 and 2012. The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court also established the particular gravity of the guilt, which in practice virtually rules out early release after 15 years — as is often the case in Germany when people are sentenced to life imprisonment. The 40-year-old Syrian, who was identified as Alaa M. in line with German privacy rules, was placed in preventive detention, German news agency dpa reported. In his verdict, presiding judge Christoph Koller described the actions of the accused in the military hospital in the Syrian city of Homs in the early stages of the civil war that began in 2011. He said the doctor had sadistic tendencies and acted them out during the torture. 'Above all, the accused enjoyed harming people that seemed inferior and low-value to him,' Koller said, according to dpa. During the trial, which lasted almost three and a half years, victims had described the most severe abuse, including beatings, kicks and the setting of wounds and body parts on fire, dpa reported. Koller emphasized that without the willingness and courage of witnesses to share the details of their suffering the facts of the case could not have been clarified. M. had lived in Germany for ten years and had worked as an orthopedic surgeon in several clinics, most recently in Bad Wildungen in northern Hesse. In summer 2020, he was arrested after some of his victims had recognized him from a TV documentary about Homs, dpa reported. The doctor supposedly tortured prisoners who were considered part of the opposition to former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. The trial against him began in January 2022. Alaa M. described himself as not guilty during the trial, alleging that he was the victim of a conspiracy, dpa wrote. The verdict is not yet final.
