Anwar Raslan has been sentenced to life in prison after torturing 4,000 people in Syria’s civil war

Anwar Raslan was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Thursday for the torture of 4,000 people in Syria’s civil war in a notorious Damascus prison known as “Hell on Earth”. The trial was the world’s first criminal case over state-led torture in Syria.

A German court jailed an ex-Syrian intelligence officer for life for murder, rape and crimes against humanity, handing down the first ever conviction for state-backed torture committed during Syria’s civil war after a landmark trial.

Anwar Raslan was found guilty on 27 of out 58 counts of murder, rape and sexual assault carried out at a Damascus prison run by a unit of President Bashar al-Assad’s security services that he headed.

What people are saying?

TaliasVan It’s good some country is taking control of doling out justice to these criminals of humanity. There always needs to be a moral compass in a group or country, overlooking the weak and abused. Can Americans rise to that occasion again? Pray for this.

Joshua Landis I imagine Anwar Raslan believed himself to be a bonafide member of the opposition because he was horrified by the barbarity of the civil war and the destruction of his town. Perhaps, he believed his dislike of the regime exonerated him from the torture meted out in his prison.