A Syrian doctor who allegedly killed and tortured inmates at a government prison, including setting fire to a teenage boy’s genitals, has gone on trial in Germany.
Alaa Mousa, 36 years old, came to Germany with a visa for skilled workers in 2015. He had worked at the military intelligence prison of Homs in Syria from April 2011 through December 2012.
The doctor, who later practised medicine in Germany, allegedly administered a lethal injection to a prisoner who resisted being beaten, in what prosecutors say was to demonstrate his ‘absolute power’ over the prisoners.
Mousa, in one case is accused of pouring flammable oil on a prisoner before lighting them on fire. He also kicked him in the face with such force that three teeth had to been replaced.
According to Der Spiegel, Ahmad A. is a former prisoner who lives now in Austria. He will serve as one of the main witnesses for the prosecution.
A teenage boy was also said to have been sprayed with alcohol, before lighting them on fire. The same happened to an adult prisoner.
Alaa Mousa, 36, who allegedly killed and tortured inmates at a government prison, including setting fire to a teenage boy’s genitals, has gone on trial in Germany
Mousa was also summoned to Homs prison, where an epileptic inmate was having an attack. The accused allegedly punched the victim in the face with a rubber pipe, and then kicked him in his head.
He died just days after taking the tablet that Mousa gave him. The cause of his death remains a mystery.
According to the prosecutors, other inmates were also kicked and beat, often with medical instruments.
The doctor is accused by the prosecution of murdering one person and torturing 18 others, inflicting severe physical and psychological damage on another person and other criminal acts, including another that resulted in another person’s death.
Mousa, who arrived from Syria in the middle of 2015 on a visa to skilled workers and not as a refugee, fled Syria.
After Syrian witnesses came forward, he was arrested on June 2020.
The Syrian doctor arrived in Germany in 2015 on a visa for skilled workers after working at a military intelligence prison in the Syrian city of Homs from April 2011 until December 2012
He had worked in a Kassel clinic in central Germany. Many Syrians recognised him from Syria, and they reported him to German police.
German federal prosecutors claim Mousa worked at the military hospital 608 located in Syria’s city of Homs as well as the military hospital 601 situated in Damascus. There, injured prisoners were taken after they had been arrested to oppose Assad’s regime.
Prosecutors claim that instead of receiving treatment, they were tortured and ‘not infrequently’ killed at such hospitals in order to repress the opposition.
Anna Zabeck, the public prosecutor in the case against Mousa at the beginning of the trial read the charges sheet and stated that Mousa was accused of torturing civilians “within the context of a widespread attack on civils”.
The defendant arrived in court wearing a FFP2 mask and a blue suit.
He did however criticize the Frankfurt court for not making Arabic translations available to the public.
Rene Bahns (a lawyer for civil parties involved in this case representing victims’ right) told AFP that these examples highlight ‘the use sexualized violence’ in Syria’s torture system.
A doctor who practiced in Germany later became a physician and administered lethal injections to the prisoner, according to reports.
Nearly half a billion people have been killed in the conflict in Syria since 2011, when it began. It has also caused the largest displacement due to conflict since World War II.
Germany took in approximately 800,000.
Frankfurt’s regional court will be hearing the case after another German court sentenced last week a former Syrian colonel for leading the execution of 27 victims and torturing 4,000 more at Damascus’s detention centre 10 years ago.
This verdict was hailed as historic by the victims and marks the conclusion of the first international trial for state-sponsored torture in Syria.
Germany has the ability to prosecute people in Germany under the law of universal jurisdiction. It allows for countries to have trials of individuals in Germany for crimes that are of extraordinary gravity.
France, Norway, Austria and other countries have seen similar cases in relation to the Syrian war. Sweden was the first country in 2017 to accuse an ex-syrian soldier of war crimes.
Balkees Jaarrah from Human Rights Watch stated, “Over the past decade, there has been a substantial amount of evidence regarding atrocities committed in Syria. And now… these efforts are beginning to bear fruits.”