The German judiciary sentenced Syrian doctor Alaa Moussa, accused of torture and murder, to life imprisonment following a trial that lasted three and a half years.
According to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, on Monday, June 16, the Frankfurt Regional Court sentenced Moussa to life imprisonment for committing crimes against humanity.
The court found that the defendant’s guilt was extremely severe and ordered his detention.
During the verdict pronouncement, the presiding judge, Christoph Koller, stated that “the crimes committed by Alaa Moussa resulted in serious physical and psychological injuries to nine individuals and the death of two.”
The court issued its ruling after a trial that lasted approximately three and a half years against the Syrian doctor.
German police arrested the doctor on June 19, 2020, accused of torturing detainees and burning their genitalia during his work as a doctor in Syria.
The first sessions of the trial began on December 19, 2022, before the Frankfurt Regional Court in western Germany, concluding today with the final ruling.
Brutality and torture
Among the victim testimonies and witness accounts, Alaa Moussa was involved in sexual violence, torture, and the killing of civilians at the Homs Military Hospital and the Military Intelligence Branch in Homs.
The last of these testimonies was in July 2024 when a “witness” who worked with Moussa at the same hospital in 2011 testified in court, providing information about the ill-treatment of detained patients in the surgery, emergency, and intensive care rooms.
Witnessing the surgical department throughout 2011, soldiers loyal to the regime prevented anyone not on a pre-prepared list from entering, as reported by Frankfurter Allgemeine regarding the session where this testimony occurred.
Detainees patients were bound to their beds with blindfolds and were nearly naked, tortured by beating and electrocution. The witness saw the signs of torture and heard the screams of the injured detainees who suffered from hunger and thirst, being in dire physical condition.
At times, according to the same witness, the urine bags for patients were full and closed, causing additional pain.
The witness stated that he saw Moussa using a catheter tube to hit patients.
In one of the mentioned cases, a person was brought to the emergency room blindfolded and bound by the hands and feet, accompanied by a soldier and a nurse.
Alaa Moussa struck the bound individual in the face, then hit him on the head with the catheter tube and humiliated him.
In a third case, the witness reported observing a 14-year-old boy brought by two soldiers into the emergency room, who was screaming in fear and attempted to escape from them, before Moussa poured the contents of a bottle of alcohol on his pants and set it on fire, which the soldier extinguished, according to the witness.
The same witness who spoke about Moussa in the session entered wearing a gray “wig” and glasses, sitting only four meters away from Moussa, and the court did not disclose his personal details due to fears of threats against the witness or those close to him.
Doctor and intelligence agent
Alaa Moussa worked as a doctor in a military intelligence prison in Homs in 2011 and was also a doctor and agent in the intelligence service at Mazzeh Military Hospital No. 60, known as the “human slaughterhouse,” where the Caesar photos were taken.
The name “Caesar” refers to a Syrian officer who defected from the Syrian regime and leaked 55,000 images of 11,000 detainees in 2014, who were killed under torture. The FBI confirmed the authenticity of these images, which stirred global public opinion at the time.
Doctor Moussa is considered complicit in sexual violence, torture, and the killing of civilians at the military hospital and the Military Intelligence Branch in Homs.
It was indicated in the arrest order for the doctor that by the end of April 2011, the Syrian regime began using “brutal force” to suppress all forms of protest against its policies, and the Syrian intelligence played a key role in that, aiming to halt the protest movement as swiftly as possible and intimidate the population.
To this end, opposition figures were arrested, detained, tortured, and killed across Syria, according to the statement in the arrest order.
During his time as a doctor in a military intelligence prison in Homs in 2011, between October 23 and November 16, 2011, one detainee (named Mahmoud from Homs) was tortured for participating in a demonstration, and then suffered a seizure. Fellow detainees asked one of the guards to inform the doctor, and upon his arrival, Moussa struck the detainee with a plastic tube, continuing to beat and kick him in the head.
The day after that incident, the detained person’s health deteriorated, and one of the detainees requested medical care. Instead of providing treatment, Moussa returned, accompanied by another doctor from the prison, and they both beat the detainee suffering from a seizure with a plastic tube, rendering him unable to walk until he lost consciousness; then several guards wrapped the unconscious detainee in a blanket and moved him away until his death.
As he faced prosecution and was confronted with the crimes he committed, Moussa defended himself, denying the charges against him.
Germany: Life imprisonment sentence for Syrian doctor Alaa Moussa Enab Baladi.
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