Austrian court convicts ex-intelligence chief in Syria's Raqqa of torture
The court also ordered 130,000 euros in compensation to victims after finding the men guilty of torture and related crimes.
- On Monday, a Viennese court convicted former Syrian brigadier general Khaled al-Halabi and ex-police lieutenant colonel Musab Abu Rukbah, sentencing both to eight years in prison for torture, aggravated coercion, and serious bodily harm.
- Between 2011 and 2013, Halabi headed the General Intelligence Directorate and Abu Rukbah served as a police investigator in Raqqa, where systematic torture of detainees occurred under their command.
- Victims testified to severe abuses including being held in tiny, crowded cells; one detainee recounted being kept naked for nine days with cold water repeatedly poured on him.
- The court ordered the pair to pay €130,000 in compensation to victims, while crediting Halabi's pre-trial detention since late December 2024 toward his eight-year sentence.
- Prosecutors alleged an agreement involving Israel's Mossad intelligence service helped the men obtain Austrian sanctuary in 2015; the verdict reflects a broader trend of European courts prosecuting Syrian war crimes under universal jurisdiction.
46 Articles
46 Articles
For more than ten years, two high-ranking henchmen of the Assad regime lived freely in Europe, protected by authorities and secret services. Now they were sentenced in Vienna. Their victims are relieved – and still disappointed.
Two former Syrian regime charges during the Bashar al-Assad stage have been sentenced by a court in Austria to eight years in prison for torture and serious injury against about twenty civilians. In one of the first trials against former Syrian representatives for repression during the Al-Assad era, which fled to Russia in early December 2024 following the successful offensive by jihadists and rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the defend…
Former Syrian general Khaled al-Halabi arrived in Vienna with the help of Mossad and the complicity of the Syrian secret service. The ruling also sentences Musab Abu Rukba, former head of the Raqqa criminal police, to eight years in prison.
Austrian court hands eight-year sentences to two ex-Assad officials in torture case
Two former senior Assad regime-era intelligence and police officials were convicted by a Vienna court of torture, aggravated assault, coercion and related crimes against 21 civilians during Bashar al Assad's rule; the verdicts are not yet final.
In Austria, the highest-ranking representative of the overthrown Asad regime has been legally held accountable. According to the court, he has been systematically tortured in a prison in Rakka.
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