Consider This from NPR - Germany Is Holding Syrian Officials Accountable For Alleged War Crimes

Episode Date: September 20, 2021

10 years ago, when the Syrian regime sent tanks and warplanes to stop a an uprising, it sparked a bloody civil war that is still ongoing.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org. It's been more than a decade since the Syrian regime started sending tanks and warplanes to put down a popular uprising. That triggered a bloody civil war that's still going on. This year, there's a glimmer of hope in the form of justice. For the Syrian community, this trial is still a breathtaking moment. Mohamed Amjahed is a journalist in Germany where a court has been holding Syrian officials accountable for their war crimes. Even if this is just a little fish, it's the beginning

of justice. Back in February, a former Syrian security officer, Iyad al-Gharib, was convicted of aiding and abetting torture. He had rounded up anti-government protesters and brought them to a notorious detention facility. He's now in jail serving a sentence of more than four years. He just told the story that he had no choice but to obey the orders that he was given from his superiors. Fritz Streif is a human rights attorney and hosts a podcast called Branch 251 that covers these trials. Someone like that, of course, at some point did have a choice. Someone like that joined these services and this regime years ago. Did he have a choice then? There are two key reasons cases like these are being tried in Germany. For one, the country is

home to more than 800,000 Syrian refugees, some of whom directly witnessed these war crimes. And Germany has adopted universal jurisdiction, which means they can prosecute crimes against humanity that happened anywhere, even if the perpetrators and plaintiffs are not citizens. And that's amazingly important. This can be a precedent, certainly for other courts in Germany, but also for other courts worldwide. Patrick Croker, a lawyer representing some of the Syrian torture victims, says it was especially striking to hear this verdict read out in court, because it was translated into Arabic. We are very happy that now the court understood that it does have a huge meaning to so many Syrians that are also living in Germany or neighboring countries. Consider this. Germany wants Syrian officials to know that they will be punished for their crimes. But some victims of war crimes fear they will be the ones punished for testifying against the Syrian regime.

From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Monday, September 20th. visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. Support for NPR and the following message come from Carnegie Corporation of New York, working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. More information at carnegie.org. It's Consider This from NPR. For some who are watching the Syrian war crime trials in Germany, the details are very close to home. I was there in the same branch in 2014. Luna Watfa, a Syrian refugee, was in the same prison a few years after the witnesses now testify. She's reporting on these trials for some Arab outlets.

So it's not easy at all. While in the courtroom, Watfa focuses on taking notes, on doing her job. But when she gets home and starts writing... I read the details and then I think about them. And then the whole feelings come back. I can imagine what they went through. I can also hear the screams there. Along with her reporting, Watfa also works with a Syrian advocacy group in Berlin that identifies torture survivors. And even though it is painful to relive, Watfa wants to be the one to help tell the stories of these witnesses. So they can be a little bit sure that there's someone here who had the same experience, who can understand what they

said, who can speak with mother language, and is here the whole time. German judges in the western city of Koblenz have been taking testimony about Syrians' imprisonment and torture for more than a year now. That's where NPR international correspondent Deborah Amos picks up the story. A quick warning, there are some graphic descriptions of torture coming up. I'm standing in front of the courthouse in Koblenz, where this unprecedented trial began, it's a former high-ranking Syrian intelligence officer charged with crimes against humanity. You can't record inside a German court, but I can describe what I've seen. The testimony here is dramatic and sometimes horrific. Witnesses describe electric shocks,

beatings with cables, punches to the back of the neck. It's a horrible experience. Lack of food, lack of medicine. I remember clearly that some have to stand up most of the night for others to sleep. Waseem Mokdad described his testimony to NPR at his home in Berlin. He talked about his arrest and interrogation in Syria. We were detained on the street. They started to hit us with their fists, with their feet. The whole interrogation was always accompanied with active torture.

As if you are now, you are in hell. In the courtroom, the man Muqtadz has ordered his torture sat a few feet away. I remember clearly the moment our eyes crossed. I had very complex emotions. The man he was looking at is Anwar Raslan, a former intelligence officer in charge of prison interrogations. He has denied any role in the crimes listed in the indictment, denied he was even in charge, denied any torture under his watch. German prosecutors have charged him with 58 counts of murder, more than 4,000 counts of torture, crimes alleged to have been

committed in Branch 251, the Damascus prison where M Magdad was held. He says there were days that he wished for death. It's not easy personally to share your bad experiences on a public stage. It's not easy to face the brutality of the dictatorship in Syria. But also, this is the first step in a long way towards justice. For him, testifying was a relief, he says. Finally, he was more than just a survivor. But in recent months, there have been threats. Other witnesses and their families have been threatened by the regime to silence them,

says Jomana Saif, a Syrian human rights lawyer. The regime is still in power, and we know still has the full authority to punish. She's a research fellow at the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, which is representing some former detainees who are testifying in the case. We know the behaviour of this regime. Do you know of cases where people have pulled back or not testified because of threats? Yes. Actually, this is the main challenge that we are facing. Some frightened witnesses have already disavowed their testimony or refused to testify at all, says Tobias Schneider, a research

fellow at a private think tank, the Global Policy Institute in Berlin. As we sat in a German cafe, he explained that the Syrian regime keeps close watch on exiles in Germany. The Syrian government is listening, and you know that they have means of retaliating, not just against your family at home, but even against you here. Does the German government know about this, and can they do anything about it? So if you read the sort of annual reports of our domestic intelligence agencies, they are keenly aware that this exists. They simply do not have the capacities to meaningfully combat this. The Syrian government didn't reply to NPR's repeated request for comment, Schneider says some Syrian activists report harassment on German streets.

In Hamburg, German police are still investigating the murder two years ago of a Syrian who campaigned against the Assad regime. He was killed in an axe attack at his home, sending chills through the Syrian community in Germany. It doesn't have to get to the point where you're directly threatened as a Syrian to know what the potential threats are around you. Okay, which one is Hassan? The message was unmistakable to Hassan Mahmoud, another witness who needed extraordinary assistance before he would testify. He feared

for his family back home, particularly his brother Waseem. They both talked to me on Zoom from central Germany. It was their youngest brother who was killed in Branch 251. They were told he was dead just 12 days after his arrest in 2011. How do you spell his name? H-A-Y-A-N. Dr. Hayan Mahmoud was 26 when he died. He had recently graduated top of his class in medical school. Hassan was set to testify in Germany, but Wasim was still in Syria, threatened a few weeks before Hassan was scheduled to take the stand.

That brother, Wasim, tells the stand. That brother, Waseem, tells the story. Syrian security officers came to his hometown looking for him. Both brothers understood it was a deadly threat. Soon after, Waseem escaped Syria, smuggled out after a successful campaign to convince French officials to give him an emergency visa to live there. For every hour, I could narrate a thriller movie that even Hitchcock couldn't imagine, says Hassan about the operation to make sure his brother was safe. Now, he could tell his story to German judges without putting another brother in danger. We are very lucky, Hassan explained. Finally, I could tell our mother that we had done something about the fate of our brother, her youngest son.

Many Syrians don't have that chance, he added. We come back to Waseem Mokdad at his home in Berlin. It's been almost a year since he had his day in court, almost five years since he fled his shattered country to start again, learn the language, get married, launch a career playing Syrian music on the Aoud. He knows the importance for survivors to find the courage to speak up in court like he did, document their trauma, take part in a trial that sends a message to Damascus. It's a very direct message that your crimes are not going to pass unpunished. Some of the gravest crimes under international law,

torture, murder, sexual violence, documented in court with crucial testimony from survivors willing to take the risk. I was a little bit angry, but I was also proud that Anwar Ruslan is now in a fair trial and his dignity is saved in contrast to what he did, where we were suffering unbearable conditions of torture under his watch. He is gratified that Germany is setting an example. Even a man that he believes committed horrific crimes gets due process. A verdict is expected later this year. NPR International Correspondent Deborah Amos. You're listening to Consider This from NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro.

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