Former Syrian Intelligence Officer Convicted of Torture in Austrian Court]

An Austrian court has convicted a former Syrian intelligence officer of torture and related charges for his role in the abuse of opponents of Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

The Vienna court sentenced 63-year-old Khaled al-Halabi, a former brigadier general in Syria’s intelligence services, to eight years in prison. Prosecutors alleged al-Halabi headed the General Intelligence Directorate in Raqqa from 2011 to 2013, when the Free Syrian Army controlled the city.

A second defendant, former police lieutenant colonel Musab Abu Rukbah, 54, nicknamed “the Angel of Death,” was also given an eight-year sentence. Both men had pleaded not guilty.

More than a dozen victims testified during the month-long trial, describing beatings, electrocution, and dousing with hot and cold water. The prosecution presented evidence of standardized torture methods, including use of a device known as the “flying carpet,” in which victims were bound to a wooden board.

Al-Halabi claimed he assisted the Free Syrian Army’s takeover of Raqqa and fled the following day, eventually seeking asylum in Austria. He denied knowledge of prison abuses, but the court ruled he was aware of and responsible for the torture of detainees in his custody.

The judge emphasized that al-Halabi knew of routine beatings of new arrivals in the detention facility’s courtyard. One witness testified that al-Halabi personally interrogated him, beating the soles of his feet with electric cables.

Victims described being held in tiny cells, with some kept naked and subjected to repeated pouring of cold water. The prosecution said al-Halabi received direct orders from Damascus and systematically employed torture as a standard practice.

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