Life imprisonment for Syrian torture doctor: Justice for the victims!

Life imprisonment for Syrian torture doctor: Justice for the victims!

The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court made a groundbreaking judgment today, June 16, 2025. The 40-year-old Syrian doctor Alaa M. is sentenced to life imprisonment. He was convicted for his role in torturing and killing opponents of the regime on behalf of the Assad regime in Syria. The presiding judge noted the particular gravity of his guilt, which not only leads to a life sentence, but also to preventive detention.

The criminal trial against Alaa M. has been dragging on for over three years. The federal prosecutor's office had demanded life imprisonment, preventive detention and a professional ban. The doctor was accused of working as an assistant doctor in military hospitals in Homs and Mezzeh and in a prison in 2011 and 2012. During this time he is said to have been responsible for killing at least two people and seriously injuring nine others while brutalizing members of the opposition. Alaa M. denied these allegations until the end and described himself as innocent, although victims recognized him in a TV documentary, which led to his arrest in 2020.

Torture and crimes against humanity

The allegations against Alaa M. are of a serious nature. He is accused of organizing the torture and killings as part of a system aimed at brutally crushing protests against the Assad regime. This happened in the early years of the Syrian Civil War, which began in March 2011 and lasted until December 8, 2024. According to reports from organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the UN Human Rights Council, crimes against humanity have been commonplace. The brutality of the Syrian security forces was already documented by international organizations in 2011, which led to the crushing of the protests being qualified as a “crime against humanity”.

The verdict against Alaa M. makes it clear that torturers cannot remain unpunished. The trial is part of a larger legal framework that allows countries to prosecute crimes against humanity even if they were committed abroad. Germany has taken a pioneering role here and implemented the principle of universal jurisdiction in its legal system. This means that crimes under international law can be investigated and prosecuted, even if the crimes took place outside the country.

Rule of law in Syria

After the civil war, many questions remain unanswered, especially regarding the legal processing of the crimes in Syria. The International Criminal Court can only take action if the acts were committed on the territory of a contracting state, which does not apply in this case since Syria has not acceded to the Rome Statute. Attempts to hand Syria over to the ICC failed in 2014 due to veto rights from Russia and China.

However, there is a ray of hope: the principle of universal justice has led to an increasing number of proceedings being initiated in Europe against suspected perpetrators of the Syrian conflict. The Koblenz al-Khatib trial was the first in the world to deal with Syrian state torture and crimes against humanity. Other European countries have also begun to carry out similar processes and hold those responsible to account, indicating a growing willingness to address historical responsibility.

The conviction of Alaa M. is a clear signal that the international law community will confront the crimes of the past - and will continue to do so in the future. Such proceedings can partly become a message of hope that justice is also possible to some extent for the victims in Syria, regardless of how far political developments have progressed in their home country. What happens next and whether more perpetrators will be held accountable remains to be seen, but the legal system in Germany shows that the path to justice also leads across borders.

For further information on the process and the background to the Syrian human rights situation, you can also read Hessenschau, FFH and the Federal Agency for Civic Education.

Hesse show, FFH, Federal Agency for Civic Education.