German Court Sentences Syrian Doctor to Life in Prison for Role in Assad-Era Torture
A German court has sentenced Syrian doctor Alaa Mousa to life in prison after convicting him of multiple crimes against humanity — including torture and murder — committed during the early years of Syria’s civil war under the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court delivered the landmark verdict on Monday, ruling that Mousa, 40, played an active role in the Assad regime’s violent crackdown on dissent between 2011 and 2012. His actions, the court said, were part of a wider campaign of repression that reflected the “inhumane and repressive” nature of Assad’s government.
Presiding Judge Christoph Koller said the case highlighted “the brutality of Assad’s dictatorial, unjust regime.” Mousa’s conviction is among the most significant outcomes of Germany’s use of universal jurisdiction, which allows its courts to prosecute severe international crimes regardless of where they were committed.
Mousa, who worked in military hospitals in Damascus and Homs, was accused of personally torturing detainees on at least 18 occasions. Prosecutors said that many victims were political prisoners disguised as patients, who instead of receiving treatment, were subjected to brutal abuse. Several died as a result.
Among the most shocking allegations was that Mousa poured flammable liquid on a detainee’s wounds and set him on fire, before kicking him in the face so violently that it shattered his teeth. In another case, he was accused of injecting a prisoner with a lethal substance after the man refused to be beaten.
Witnesses described the conditions in Syrian military hospitals as horrific. One survivor referred to the Damascus hospital as a “slaughterhouse.”
After fleeing Syria, Mousa arrived in Germany in 2015 on a skilled-worker visa and worked as an orthopedic surgeon until his arrest in 2020. His colleagues reportedly knew nothing of his past, with one describing him as “unremarkable.”
During the trial, which began in 2022 and lasted more than three years, Mousa denied committing the acts but admitted witnessing abuse. He claimed he was unable to intervene for fear of becoming a victim himself. “I felt sorry for them, but I couldn’t say anything, or it would have been me instead of the patient,” he told the court.
His conviction comes just months after the December 2024 ousting of Bashar al-Assad, whose regime had long been accused of crimes against humanity during the protracted Syrian conflict.
Human rights groups have welcomed the verdict as a milestone for international justice and a step toward accountability for the atrocities committed during Syria’s civil war.
With input from Al Jazeera
