A German court, on Wednesday, sentenced a former member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's security services, Eyad Al Gharib to four and half years in prison. The court found him guilty of facilitating the torture of 30 prisoners, a Syrian lawyer said on Wednesday.
Eyad Al Gharib was charged with being an accomplice to crimes against humanity. Gharib was found guilty of arresting 30 opposition activists after an anti-Assad demonstration in 2011. he then sent them to an intelligence facility knowing they would be tortured.
Anwar Raslan, another Syrian is also on trial. Raslan and Gharib got asylum in Germany but were arrested in 2019. Gharib has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison. The pair are under trial in Germany as they are being tried under the principle of "universal jurisdiction", which allows any country to prosecute those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, a BBC report reads.
Raslan, it is alleged, has been involved in the torture of at 4,000 people between 2011 and 2012. he is being charged with 58 counts of murder, rape and sexual assault. Similar cases have emerged in Sweden, France and Germany.
