German court jails Syria agent after ‘historic’ torture verdict

A GERMAN court yesterday convicted a former Syrian intelligence officer of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity following a landmark trial.

Eyad al-gharib was found guilty of complicity in the torture of 30 people he took prisoner during protests against the Assad regime in 2011. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

Gharib, who claimed asylum in Germany in 2018, is the first former Syrian official to be convicted of crimes against humanity, in a ruling activists hope will set a precedent for future prosecutions.

“This is a historic decision because for the first time a verdict was issued against a criminal belonging to the Syrian regime who committed crimes within the state security system,” Anwar al-bunni, a Syrian lawyer and activist, said in a statement.

Gharib, 44, was found guilty of taking people to Branch 251, a notorious interrogation centre in Damascus known as “hell on earth”.

In a detailed ruling, the judge found the systemic use of torture in Syrian prisons amounted to a crime against humanity, and that Gharib knew what would happen to those he rounded up.

Syrians queued outside the court in Koblenz from early in the morning.

“I woke up before my alarm at 5am, it’s an important day,” said Mukdad Wassim, a survivor of Branch 251 and witness in the case. “At this moment there are still people being beaten and suffering from violence and from torture. This is the first step to raise our voices in their names.”