Germany charges ex-Syrian prison guard over Assad-era abuses

Former Syrian security official accused of torturing dozens of prisoners at a Damascus jail while former president Bashar al-Assad was in power and has been charged with crimes against humanity by German prosecutors.

The ex-prison guard, identified only as Fahad A, allegedly participated in more than 100 interrogations between 2011 and 2012 where prisoners were “subjected to severe physical abuse,” according to Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor General’s office, which released the indictment on Monday.

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According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, the abuse included electric shocks, cable beatings, forced stress positions, and ceiling suspensions.

At least 70 prisoners died as a result of such mistreatment and the deteriorating conditions in prison, according to the statement, which also mentions the former guard who is also accused of murder.

The official was detained on May 27 and formally charged on December 10.

According to the German prosecutor’s office, he is being held in pre-trial detention.

Syrians have demanded justice for crimes committed during al-Assad’s decades-long rule, which was abruptly overthrown by the rebels in December of that year.

After nearly 14 years of civil war, the Assad regime, which was accused of widespread human rights violations, including detainee torture and forced disappearances, was overthrown.

Jurisdiction that is universal

Prosecutors in Germany have used universal jurisdiction laws to prosecute those accused of crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

According to these laws, several people who are suspected of crimes against humanity during the Syrian conflict have been detained in Germany, home to about one million Syrians, over the past few years.

A Syrian doctor who was found guilty of carrying out torture as part of al-Assad’s crackdown on dissent received a life sentence in Frankfurt in June.

Alaa Mousa, a doctor, was charged with torturing patients at Damascus and Homs military hospitals, where political prisoners were frequently taken for alleged treatment.

Witnesses described how Mousa sprayed flammable liquid onto a prisoner’s cuts before lighting them, slitting the man’s teeth, and breaking his teeth. Another incident involved a detainee who had allegedly refused to be beaten, and the doctor was accused of giving her a fatal substance.

One former prisoner referred to the “slaughterhouse” at his concentration camp in Damascus.