Syrian doctor sentenced to life in prison in Germany for torture and murder in Assad regime hospitals

FRANKFURT, Germany — A German court sentenced Syrian doctor Alaa Musa to life in prison after convicting him of crimes against humanity, including torture and murder in Syrian hospitals during the rule of the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad. 

The court found Musa, 40, guilty of killing two people and severely injuring eight others in Syrian military hospitals where he worked between 2011 and 2012.  

According to presiding judge Christoph Koller, Musa was part of an enforced disappearance unit at a military hospital in Hmoth (Homs) and took pleasure in inflicting physical pain on detainees, whom he considered “inferior.”  

The trial, held at Frankfurt’s Higher Regional Court, lasted three and a half years. This marks the first case where a doctor has been prosecuted for torture and murder as part of crimes against humanity in Syria.  

The verdict is also a significant example of universal jurisdiction, where perpetrators of grave human rights violations are prosecuted outside their home country.