Vienna jails Syrian ex-intelligence officers for systematic torture

A Viennese court has sentenced former Syrian brigadier general Khaled al-Halabi and ex-police lieutenant colonel Musab Abu Rukbah to eight years in prison for torture and serious bodily harm. The pair were found guilty of crimes committed in the city of Raqa between April 2011 and March 2013. Judges ruled the abuses constituted "systematic torture organised by the state".

During the trial, which began in June, detainees described being held naked in cramped cells and beaten with electric cables on the soles of their feet. "I'm still afraid to this day," one victim testified. Alongside the prison terms, the court ordered the two men to pay a total of €130,000 in compensation.

This conviction is the latest example of European courts prosecuting alleged atrocities from the Syrian civil war under the principle of universal jurisdiction. By holding foreign nationals accountable for crimes committed outside their borders, European judiciaries are increasingly filling the void left by international tribunals. Judges in France, Germany, Sweden and Belgium have similarly pursued former Syrian officials, establishing a legal precedent that the continent will not serve as a refuge for war criminals.

Beyond the legal precedent, the trial has exposed uncomfortable questions about Austria's domestic security apparatus and its asylum procedures. Prosecutors argued that al-Halabi, a 63-year-old member of the Druze minority, was transferred from France to Austria in 2015 via a secret agreement with Israel's Mossad intelligence service.

That claim fueled a separate trial last year in which five senior Austrian officials were accused of improperly helping the ex-general obtain sanctuary. They were acquitted in 2023. Al-Halabi told the court he received help only from his relatives, denying that torture occurred under his command before he fled the advancing Islamic State group in 2013.

Both defendants had pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers have not yet indicated if they will appeal Monday's judgement. Al-Halabi has been in pre-trial detention since late December 2024, a period that will count toward his sentence. The case arrives at a sensitive moment for Austria, which hosts around 95,000 Syrians following the recent ousting of Bashar al-Assad.