Tortured, raped opponents of Bashar Assad: Syrian man sentenced to 26 years in prison by Dutch court

A district court in the Netherlands has sentenced a Syrian national to 26 years in prison for crimes against humanity, including the torture and rape of detainees held by forces loyal to former country’s president Bashar al-Assad during the country’s civil war.The man, identified only as Rafiq al Q under Dutch privacy regulations, was convicted by the District Court of The Hague for abuses committed between 2013 and 2014 while serving as an interrogator for the pro-Assad National Defense Forces (NDF) in the Syrian city of Salamiyah.According to the court, evidence showed that the 58-year-old was involved in the torture of prisoners held at detention centres, including beatings, electric shocks and suspending detainees upside down. Judges also found him guilty of sexual violence against multiple victims.Delivering the verdict, the court said the accused had subjected detainees to severe physical and psychological suffering.“The defendant was also guilty of sexually abusing multiple victims. He raped one of them,” the court said in a summary of its ruling, Reuters reported. “The defendant repeatedly subjected the victims to conditions of extreme fear, threats, pain, hopelessness, and powerlessness. During the court hearings, the victims gave compelling testimonies about the impact this had on them and the consequences they continue to suffer to this day,” it added.Presiding judge Wim van Hattum said the court had established that Rafiq al Q. either committed the crimes himself or directed others to carry them out.“The suspect was engaged in torture, rape or other sexual abuse of eight victims in this case, either by committing the acts himself or by ordering others to do so,” van Hattum said while reading the ruling summary.Rafiq al Q denied all allegations during the trial, insisting he had no involvement in the abuses and accusing witnesses of lying and conspiring against him. He appeared in court wearing a striped shirt and seated beside his lawyer, but made no visible reaction as the sentence was announced. The court acquitted him on several charges for which it found insufficient evidence.First Dutch conviction over Assad-era atrocitiesThe verdict marks the first conviction in the Netherlands for atrocities committed in Syria by forces aligned with the Assad government. It is also the first time a Dutch court has convicted an individual of sexual violence as a crime against humanity.The case was brought under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows national courts to prosecute suspects for serious international crimes such as war crimes and crimes against humanity, even when those offences were committed abroad.Rafiq al Q arrived in the Netherlands as an asylum seeker in 2021 and was living in the town of Druten before being arrested in 2023.Both prosecutors and the defence have 14 days to appeal the verdict.The ruling is part of a broader international effort to hold individuals accountable for crimes committed during Syria’s civil war and under Assad’s rule.Since Assad was ousted from power in December 2024 and fled to Russia, courts across Europe have pursued cases involving former Syrian officials and government supporters accused of torture, killings and other abuses.Last year, a German court sentenced a Syrian doctor to life imprisonment for torture and war crimes committed in Syria, while a Paris court in 2024 sentenced three senior Syrian officials in absentia to life terms for complicity in war crimes.Syria itself has also begun pursuing cases against former regime officials. In April, the first public trial of former Assad-era officials opened in Damascus, with ex-brigadier general Atef Najib facing charges linked to alleged crimes against the Syrian people.Human rights groups and former detainees have long documented widespread torture, sexual violence, brutality and mass executions inside detention centres run by the Assad government during the civil war.