Alaa M accused of torturing detainees at military hospitals during Syrian civil war under former ruler Bashar al-Assad

A Syrian doctor has been sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity in his home country – including murder and torture – by a German court.

The 40-year-old man, whose identity was only disclosed as Alaa M, worked as a junior doctor in an army hospital and a military intelligence prison in Homs and Damascus in Syria, in 2011 and 2012, in the early phase of the civil war.

He abused prisoners accused of being members of the opposition and who were considered enemies of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad who had participated in the uprisings against the regime during the Arab spring. He was convicted by the court in Frankfurt am Main of two deaths and eight cases of severe torture.

    • dditty@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 days ago

      The federal prosecutor’s office had asked for the man to receive life imprisonment – which usually runs to a maximum of 15 years in Germany – followed by preventive detention – meaning he would always stay behind bars, because of the potential danger it considered him to pose to wider society should he ever be released.

      I’m not German so I can’t comment with any certainty, but it sounds like the life sentence is 15 years in prison followed by indefinite confinement after that?