(Courthouse News) Dutch judges sentenced a former militia commander to 12 years in prison for complicity in torture and illegal detention on Monday, marking the first conviction of a pro-government Syrian defendant in the Netherlands.
The 35-year-old, identified only as Mustafa A., was not present in The Hague courtroom as judges took less than an hour to read out the verdict, finding him guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes for violently arresting a Palestinian refugee and handing him over to Syrian forces who later tortured him.
He was convicted of belonging to a terrorist organization after joining Liwa al-Quds, which operates in the Palestinian refugee camp al Nayrab near Syria’s Turkish border. The armed group worked closely with the security services of President Bashar Assad, who have been accused of engaging in a torture campaign against civilians since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.
