Dutch court sentences Syrian 26 years for torturing al-Assad | News about Bashar al-Assad

The ruling is the latest in a series of European crimes against Syrians since Bashar al-Assad was toppled in 2024.

A Dutch court has sentenced a Syrian man to 26 years in prison for crimes he committed while serving as the former president of Syria. Bashar al-Assad.

A court in The Hague handed down the sentence to Rafik A on Monday, after it was found that he tortured and sexually assaulted prisoners while working as an interrogator.

The court heard that the defendant, whose last name has not been released, used a number of tactics against opponents in prison in 2013 and 2014, including standing them upside down and electrocuting them.

“The suspect was torturing, raping or sexually assaulting eight people in this case, either by himself or by ordering others to do so,” presiding judge Wim van Hattum said in a summary of the decision.

The sentence is the latest in a list Among the lawsuits brought by Syrian citizens since former dictator Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by rebels in December 2024.

These high-profile cases have highlighted the human rights abuses that took place during al-Assad’s regime, which reached their peak. civil war which started in 2011 and lasted about 14 years.

European courts have been using the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows people who are accused to be prosecuted according to international law, even if they have committed crimes in foreign countries.

Rafik was arrested in the Netherlands in 2023 after spending two years in the country as an asylum seeker. Many other cases against him were dismissed due to lack of sufficient evidence.

A German court sentenced the Syrian doctor to life in prison in June last year for crimes against al-Assad.

The court found Alaa Mousa guilty of killing and torturing the defendants between 2011 and 2012, following a trial that lasted more than three years.

Rafik A’s case was the first in the Netherlands to see sexual violence prosecuted as a crime against humanity.

During the trial, the suspect denied the charges against him, which he called “conspiracy”.

His lawyers said that the accused was tortured by the armed forces and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In May last year, a French court sentenced Majdi Nema to 10 years in prison for his involvement in war crimes in the Syrian civil war. Nema acted as a spokesman for the rebel group fighting against al-Assad. He was found guilty of recruiting children between the ages of 15 and 18 and helping to organize war crimes.