JUST IN: German court sentences Syrian Doctor to life

A Syrian doctor who once practiced medicine in German hospitals has been sentenced to life in prison for committing torture and war crimes during Syria’s bloody civil war.

The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court on Monday, June 16, 2025, handed the maximum sentence.

Alaa M., 40, a former military doctor in Syria’s Homs military hospital, was convicted of  killing two detainees and torturing at least nine others between 2011 and 2012.

In a ruling that sends a chilling message to war criminals hiding abroad, Judge Christoph Koller said the doctor exhibited “sadistic tendencies” and deliberately inflicted unthinkable suffering on his victims.

“Above all, the accused enjoyed harming people that seemed inferior and low-value to him,” Koller said in a scathing verdict.

The court declared the “particular gravity” of his guilt, a designation that virtually eliminates the possibility of parole after 15 years — a rare move in German law.

During the three-and-a-half-year trial, survivors testified to gruesome abuses committed under Alaa M.’s watch.

These included beatings, burns, setting wounds on fire, and other acts of intentional cruelty inside the Homs hospital.

Victims were primarily opposition detainees rounded up during the early days of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

Hospital, meant to treat the wounded, reportedly became a site of horror for prisoners already brutalized by the regime.

The judge commended the “courage and resilience” of survivors who came forward — without whom, he said, justice would not have been possible.

After leaving Syria, Alaa M. had been living freely in Germany for a decade, working as an orthopedic surgeon at several medical facilities, most recently in Bad Wildungen, Hesse.

He was arrested in 2020 after being recognized in a television documentary about the Syrian war by former victims.

The arrest marked one of the most high-profile cases under Germany’s universal jurisdiction law, which allows prosecution of international crimes committed abroad.

Throughout the proceedings, Alaa M. maintained his innocence, claiming he was the victim of a conspiracy.

His defense called the charges fabricated and politically motivated.

But the court found overwhelming evidence — including eyewitness accounts, medical documents, and consistent survivor testimony — that painted him as a willing participant in state-sponsored brutality.

The verdict is not yet final, and the defense is expected to appeal.

In a historic ruling, Germany has sent a strong message that war criminals cannot outrun justice — even under the guise of medical credentials.

The life sentence for Alaa M. marks a major win for human rights advocates, and a warning to perpetrators hiding in plain sight.

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