Published On 7/6/2026
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Last update: 21:06 (Mecca time)
An Austrian court sentenced two former officers in the ousted Syrian regime to eight years in prison each, after convicting them of committing acts of torture and sexual assault against civilian detainees in the city of Raqqa between 2011 and 2013, according to the official Syrian Al-Ikhbariya channel.
Today, Monday, the Vienna Criminal Court sentenced the main accused, the former head of the General Intelligence Department branch in Raqqa, Khaled Al-Halabi, and the former police lieutenant colonel, Musab Abu Rukba, to 8 years in prison “for committing crimes of torture, serious physical harm, aggravated coercion, and sexual coercion” against 12 victims, and obliged them to pay financial compensation to a number of the victims.
This trial is the latest in Europe for those suspected of committing crimes during the Syrian revolution, under “universal jurisdiction,” which allows judges to decide on cases related to serious crimes committed abroad, after former officials of the ousted regime were subjected to trials in France, Germany, Sweden, and Belgium on charges of committing war crimes during the Syrian revolution.
The two convicts pleaded not guilty at the beginning of the trial that began last June, during which the Austrian prosecution accused both “Al-Halabi” and “Abu Rukba” of having “issued orders on several occasions, or failed to prevent the ill-treatment of members of a protest movement.”
“Direct instructions from the Assad regime”
The prosecution stated that Al-Halabi received “direct instructions” from the Damascus government and used violence “systematically” through “typical torture methods.”
Several detainees testified before the court about being severely beaten by guards while the two defendants were in command of the place where they were detained. One man said, “I still feel afraid to this day,” describing how Al-Halabi interrogated him and was beaten on the soles of his feet with electric cables.
Other detainees also spoke of being imprisoned in narrow, overcrowded cells, and one reported that he was kept naked for 8 or 9 days, with cold water repeatedly poured on him.
It is noteworthy that the two convicted Syrian officers applied for asylum in Austria in 2015, while media reports indicated, according to Agence France-Presse, that the Mossad was the one who transferred former Brigadier General Khaled Al-Halabi to Austria from France, where he was residing at the time.
