German prosecutors have charged a former Syrian security official with crimes against humanity, accusing him of torturing detainees at a Damascus prison during the rule of former President Bashar al Assad.
Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor General said on Monday that the suspect, identified as Fahad A under German privacy rules, took part in widespread abuse while working as a prison guard between 2011 and 2012. The charges include murder and crimes against humanity.
The case is one of the most serious legal actions yet brought in Europe over alleged abuses committed during Syria’s civil war.
According to prosecutors, Fahad A participated in more than 100 interrogations in which prisoners were subjected to severe physical violence. The abuse allegedly included electric shocks, beatings with cables, forced stress positions, and suspension from ceilings.
Prosecutors said the mistreatment took place alongside dire detention conditions. “As a result of such mistreatment and the catastrophic prison conditions, at least 70 prisoners died,” the prosecutor’s office said in its statement.
The suspect was arrested on May 27 and formally indicted on December 10. He remains in pre trial detention while the case proceeds.
Calls for accountability have intensified since Bashar al Assad was removed from power in December 2024 following a rapid rebel offensive that ended nearly 14 years of civil war.
Assad’s government had long been accused by international rights groups of mass abuses, including torture, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings. Syrian victims and activists have pushed foreign courts to pursue justice when domestic avenues remained closed.
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Germany has become a leading venue for prosecuting international crimes linked to Syria by relying on universal jurisdiction laws. These statutes allow German courts to hear cases involving crimes against humanity regardless of where they were committed.
Several Syrians suspected of war crimes have been arrested and tried in Germany in recent years. The country is home to roughly one million Syrians, many of whom fled the conflict.
In June, a Frankfurt court sentenced Syrian doctor Alaa Mousa to life in prison for torturing detainees at military hospitals in Damascus and Homs, according to Reuters. Witnesses testified that Mousa burned wounds with flammable liquid and fatally injected a prisoner who refused to be beaten.
Presiding judge Christoph Koller said the verdict highlighted the “brutality of Assad’s dictatorial, unjust regime.”
