German court convicts ex-Syrian regime officer in historic case
Eyad al-Gharib, a former low-ranking officer in Syria's intelligence services, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.
A court in Germany has convicted a former member of Syria’s security services of crimes against humanity in a landmark trial seen as the first step in holding the regime of President Bashar al-Assad accountable for state-sponsored torture.
Eyad al-Gharib, 44, was sentenced on Tuesday to four and a half years in prison. Prosecutors at the Koblenz Higher Regional Court accused the former colonel of helping arrest and transport at least 30 pro-democracy protesters to a notorious military intelligence prison in Damascus, known as Branch 251, in 2011.
