A former Syrian intelligence chief, identified as Khaled al-H. under Austrian privacy laws, has been convicted of torture and sexual abuse by a court in Vienna. He was found guilty of committing torture and, along with a second former Syrian official, Moussab Abou R., was convicted of sexual coercion, aggravated coercion, and inflicting serious bodily harm.
Both men received an eight-year prison sentence. Prosecutors stated that the defendants ordered or failed to prevent the abuse of anti-government protestors in the Syrian city of Raqqa between 2011 and 2013. The court heard testimony from former detainees who described being stripped naked, beaten, subjected to electric shocks, and doused with hot and cold water. Many victims reported suffering lasting mental trauma.
Khaled al-H. headed Syria's General Intelligence Directorate in Raqqa from the beginning of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad in 2011 until the Free Syrian Army took control of the city in 2013. He then fled Raqqa. The prosecution argued that the torture was intended to suppress the protest movement and intimidate the population.
Both men applied for asylum in Austria in 2015. The trial represents a rare instance of a European court asserting jurisdiction over crimes allegedly committed by agents of the Syrian government. The convicted officials have the right to appeal the verdicts. Reports suggest Khaled al-H. was brought to Austria by the former domestic intelligence service at the request of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad as part of an operation overseen by a former Austrian intelligence official, Martin Weiss, who is reportedly in Dubai and wanted for possible links to a fugitive Austrian spy.