It was the first time that a court outside Syria ruled in a case alleging Syrian government officials committed crimes against humanity. German prosecutors invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction for serious crimes to bring the case that involved victims and defendants who were in Germany. Details of the ruling were not immediately available, but Al-Gharib could have been sentenced to more than a decade behind bars. Evidence reviewed during the trial included photographs of thousands of alleged victims of torture by the Syrian government. Al-Gharib left Syria in 2013 and came to Germany in 2018.

Source: Ethiopian News February 23, 2021 22:41 UTC