Utolsó frissítés: 2026.06.16. — Szerző: Anti-Propaganda News Blog
The ruling is the latest in a series of cases brought against Syrian citizens in Europe since Bashar al-Assad was ousted in 2024.
Source: Staff members from Al Jazeera, Reuters, and the Associated Press Published: June 15, 2026.
A Dutch court has sentenced a Syrian man to 26 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed while serving the regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Hague court handed down its verdict against Rafik A. on Monday after finding that he had tortured and raped prisoners while working as an interrogator.
The court has learned that the defendant—whose last name has been withheld — employed numerous methods against opposition members in detention centers between 2013 and 2014, including hanging them upside down and using electric shocks.
„The defendant in this case participated in the torture, rape, or other sexual abuse of eight victims, either by committing the acts himself or by instructing others to do so,” said presiding judge Wim van Hattum in his summary of the verdict.
The ruling is the most recent in a series of lawsuits filed against Syrian citizens since Bashar al-Assad, who had been in power for a long time, was ousted during a rebel offensive in December 2024.
These landmark trials have drawn attention to the grave human rights abuses committed under Assad’s rule, which culminated in the civil war that began in 2011 and lasted nearly 14 years.
European courts apply the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows defendants to be held accountable for crimes under international law, even if those crimes were committed abroad.
Rafik was arrested in the Netherlands in 2023 after spending two years in the country as an asylum seeker. Several other charges against him were dropped due to lack of evidence.
Last June, a German court sentenced a Syrian doctor to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed against the Assad opposition. The court found Alaa Mousa guilty of murdering and torturing dissidents between 2011 and 2012, at the conclusion of a trial that lasted more than three years.
Rafik A.„s trial was the first in the Netherlands in which sexual violence was ruled a crime against humanity. During the trial, the defendant denied the charges against him, calling them a ”conspiracy.” According to his lawyers, the defendant himself was tortured by militias and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Last May, a French court sentenced Majdi Nema to 10 years in prison for participating in war crimes committed during the Syrian civil war. Nema served as a spokesperson for one of the rebel groups fighting against Assad. He was found guilty of recruiting minors between the ages of 15 and 18 and aiding in the planning of war crimes.
