Former Syrian Intelligence Chief Convicted of Torture in Austrian Court
A former Syrian intelligence chief who served in the city of Raqqa has been found guilty of torture and sexual abuse by a court in Vienna, Austria, a decision highlighted by the rarity of European jurisdiction over crimes committed by agents of the Assad regime.
The Austrian court convicted Khaled al‑H.; a member of the Druze minority and the former head of Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate in Raqqa from 2011 to 2013, when the uprising began, and again when the Free Syrian Army took the city in 2013.
Al‑H and Moussab Abou R., a former Raqqa police chief, were both found guilty of sexual coercion, aggravated coercion and inflicting serious bodily harm in addition to the core charges of torture.
Each was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. Victims of the alleged abuses testified about being stripped, beaten, shocked with electric cables, and exposed to hot and cold water, with lasting mental trauma reported by several witnesses.
The charges were pursued after al‑H and Abou R. applied for asylum in Austria in 2015. Media reports link their extradition to an operation involving Israel’s Mossad and the former Austrian domestic intelligence official Martin Weiss, who is now a wanted figure in Dubai.
Both men maintain they did not order or witness torture, with al‑H citing obligations to obey orders as a Druze minority member. Their verdicts remain subject to appeal.
