THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court on Monday found a former high-ranking member of a pro-Syrian defense force guilty of illegal detention and complicity in torture and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
The defendant, known only as Mustafa A. de accordance with Dutch privacy laws, was convicted of the arrest and inhumane treatment of a civilian in 2013 while serving in the pro-Damascus Liwa al-Quds defense forces.
The 35-year-old was tried in The Hague District Court based on universal jurisdiction, a legal principle that allows suspects to be prosecuted for international offenses such as war crimes even if they are committed in another country.
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The court called the militia a criminal organization whose members “were guilty of war crimes such as looting and violence against civilians and unlawful deprivation of liberty of civilians.”
A. was specifically convicted of illegal detention and complicity in the torture of a Palestinian man who was dragged out of his home at a refugee camp near the city of Aleppo and handed to the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Service, whose members subjected him to repeated torture, the court said.
He was acquitted of arresting and torturing a second Palestinian that same night, as the court said he could not reveal his private involvement.
The defendant was granted asylum in the Netherlands in 2020 and was arrested after judicial authorities received tips that he had been a member of the Liwa al-Quds militia.
At a previous hearing, A. had denied the fees and said that he was part of the defense forces only to fight terrorists and protect his family and people. During the trial, he continually refused to answer questions.
The Netherlands has arrested several Syrian suspects for alleged atrocities committed during the country’s civil war. The Netherlands and Canada have also jointly accused Damascus of carrying out an “institutionalized” crusade of torture against Syrians for years in a case brought before the Hague-based International Tribunal. of Justice, the UN’s highest court.
The Netherlands is not alone in seeking justice for crimes in Syria.
A court in Gerguy convicted a former member of Assad’s secret police for facilitating the torture of prisoners. Another court in Gerguy convicted a Syrian man of torturing captives while he was a member of the Islamic State organization in Syria.
Meanwhile, France has issued arrest warrants for three senior Syrian intelligence officials accused of complicity in crimes against humanity in the deaths of a father and son who disappeared a decade ago.
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