KOBLENZ: Two suspected members of President Bashar Assad’s security services had charges of torture and sexual assault read out against them on Thursday in a German court, in what lawyers say is the first trial for war crimes by Syrian government agents.
Anwar R., a former intelligence officer who applied for asylum in Germany six years ago after leaving Syria, is charged with 58 murders in a Damascus prison where prosecutors say at least 4,000 opposition activists were tortured in 2011 and 2012.
Grey haired, with a bald patch and wearing a moustache, glasses and a dark sweater, he sat calmly behind a glass cubicle erected under hygiene rules adopted by the court against the coronavirus outbreak. The charges read out included at least one rape and multiple sexual assaults.
The second suspect, Eyad A., 43, charged with facilitating the torture of at least 30 opposition activists arrested after an anti-Assad demonstration in 2011, covered his face with his grey jacket hood as he took his seat at the court. He arrived in Germany in April 2018.
Arabic interpreters repeated the charges to the suspects, identified by their first names only under German privacy laws.
Campaigners have hailed the process as a first step toward justice for thousands of Syrians who say they were tortured in government facilities, after attempts to establish an international tribunal for Syria failed.
The Assad government denies it tortures prisoners.
“The defendants are accused of having been members of Syria’s general intelligence directorate,” said Petra Zimmermann, spokeswoman of the higher regional court in Koblenz. “Anwar R. is believed to have been the head of an investigation unit in department 251 which was responsible for Damascus. It is believed that systematic torture of prisoners occurred at this prison and that he was aware of that.”
German prosecutors say Anwar R. oversaw interrogations before leaving Syria in 2012. He arrived in Germany in 2014.
They have brought the case under universal jurisdiction laws that allow Germany to try crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world. International lawyers have said they believe it is the first case anywhere against suspected officials in Assad’s government for such crimes.
Attempts by Western powers to set up an international tribunal for Syria have been blocked by Russia and China at the UN Security Council. Syria is also not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
About a dozen Syrian refugees and human rights campaigners held banners outside the court reading, ‘Assad’s Syria is a torture state’ and ‘Assad to The Hague’.
Campaigners and survivors hope the trial will open the door for similar processes in other European countries such as Norway, which have similar universal jurisdiction laws and where former Syrian security service members are believed to live.
“It was a huge challenge for our clients to come out and talk about these crimes for the first time ever,” said lawyer Patrick Kroker, head of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), which is supporting 16 Syrians in the proceedings.
“We hope they are being heard worldwide and that there is a first trial which hopefully sends a signal to Damascus.”
German court opens first Syria torture trial
https://arab.news/6cnpg
German court opens first Syria torture trial
- Campaigners have hailed the process as a first step toward justice for thousands of Syrians who say they were tortured in government facilities
Norway launches probe of Middle East diplomat and husband over Epstein links
- Mona Juul resigned from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq
- Juul and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen played key roles in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords
OSLO: Norwegian police said Monday they have launched an “aggravated corruption” investigation against a high-profile diplomat, Mona Juul, and her husband Terje Rod-Larsen, over the couple’s links to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The police economic crime unit Okokrim said in statement that the probe began last week and that an Oslo residence was searched on Monday, as well as a residence belonging to a witness.
“We have launched an investigation to determine whether any criminal offenses have been committed. We are facing a comprehensive and, by all accounts lengthy investigation,” Okokrim chief Pal Lonseth, said.
Juul, 66, and Rod-Larsen, 78, played key roles in the secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations which led to the Oslo Accords of the early 1990s.
Epstein left $10 million in his will to the couple’s two children, according to Norwegian media.
“Among other things, Okokrim will investigate whether she received benefits in connection to her position,” the statement said.
On Sunday, the foreign ministry announced that Juul had resigned from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq.
“Juul’s contact with the convicted abuser Epstein has shown a serious lapse in judgment,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in connection to the announcement.
She had already been temporarily suspended last week pending an internal investigation by the ministry into her alleged links to Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Norway’s political and royal circles have been thrust into the eye of the Epstein storm, including the CEO of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende.
Former prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland, is also being investigated for “aggravated corruption” over links to Epstein while he was chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee — which awards the Nobel Peace Prize — and as secretary general of the Council of Europe.
Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has also come under scrutiny for her relationship with Epstein, which on Friday she said she “deeply regretted.”
On Monday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store voiced support for the establishing of an independent commission set up by Parliament, to fully examine the nature of the ties between these figures and Epstein.
