An Austrian court in Vienna has convicted two former Syrian security officials of torturing and sexually abusing political opponents, in one of Europe's most significant prosecutions of figures linked to the government of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The former head of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate in Raqqa, identified as Khaled al-H. — more fully named in some reports as Khaled al-Halabi — and a former Raqqa police chief identified as Moussab Abou R., were each sentenced to eight years in prison. Both were found guilty of sexual coercion, aggravated coercion, and inflicting serious bodily harm; Khaled al-H. was additionally convicted of torture.
The crimes took place between 2011 and 2013 at a detention facility in Raqqa, a city in northeastern Syria, where Khaled al-H. commanded the notorious Branch 335 of the General Intelligence Directorate. The period coincided with the beginning of the uprising against Assad, when security forces moved to violently suppress protests. Witnesses — former detainees now living across Europe and in Syria — travelled to Vienna to testify. They described being stripped naked and beaten, subjected to electric shocks, doused in hot and cold water, and whipped with rubber hoses. Cells of roughly four square metres held up to forty people at a time. A torture device known as the "flying carpet" — a hinged wooden board to which prisoners were strapped and slowly folded — was also documented. One witness, who broke down during testimony, still suffers panic attacks more than a decade later. Prosecutors said the abuse was designed to suppress opposition to the regime and intimidate the wider population.
Both men applied for asylum in Austria in 2015. Khaled al-H. denied ordering or witnessing any torture and argued that, as a member of the Druze ethno-religious minority, he had been compelled to follow orders. His defence portrayed him as a minor cog in a system he could not control. The court rejected this, finding that both men had been aware of systematic violence at the facility and had not only failed to prevent it but had actively participated in it.
The case carries broader legal significance. It is Austria's first prosecution under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows courts to try perpetrators of grave human rights violations regardless of where the crimes occurred. Similar proceedings have taken place in Germany and Sweden, but against lower-ranking officials; Khaled al-H. is widely described as the most senior Assad-era figure to have been convicted in Europe to date. International accountability mechanisms remain limited: Syria is not a member of the International Criminal Court, and Russia has blocked the establishment of a UN special tribunal.
The trial also has an unusual domestic dimension for Austria. According to media reports, Khaled al-H. was brought to Austria by the country's former domestic intelligence service at the request of Israeli spy agency Mossad as part of an operation known as "White Milk," overseen by a senior Austrian official. That official, Martin Weiss, is currently a fugitive in Dubai and is sought in connection with the case of Jan Marsalek, a fugitive Austrian spy believed to be in Moscow. Both convicted men retain the right to appeal.