Ex-Syrian intelligence chief in Raqqa convicted of torture in Austria

Khaled al-Halabi denied involvement, but court deemed him responsible for abuse of detainees in Raqqa.An Austrian court has convicted a former Syrian intelligence officer from Raqqa on charges including torture for his role in the abuse of opponents of Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad.The court in Vienna on Monday sentenced Khaled al-Halabi, a 63-year-old former brigadier general in Syria’s intelligence services, to eight years in prison.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3From exile to judge: Symbolism in Syria’s trial of Assad, former officialslist 2 of 3Syria sees first government reshuffle since al-Assad’s ousterlist 3 of 3What’s behind the deadly bombing of a crowded Damascus cafe?end of listA second defendant, former police lieutenant colonel Musab Abu Rukbah, 54, whom the prosecution said was nicknamed “the Angel of Death”, was also given an eight-year sentence.More than a dozen victims testified during the month-long trial that they were beaten, electrocuted or doused in hot and cold water while al-Halabi was head of the General Intelligence Directorate in Raqqa, Syria from 2011 to 2013, when the Free Syrian Army seized control of the city.The case is one of the few in which a European country has asserted jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed by Syrian state agents.Al-Halabi told the court he helped facilitate the Free Syrian Army’s takeover of Raqqa and fled the next day – a journey that eventually brought him to Austria, where he later applied for asylum.He denied any knowledge of violence against people held in his agency’s building or an infamous torture device known as the “flying carpet” – a wooden board that victims would be fastened to with a hinge at waist level – that was found there after he fled.The court ruled, however, that he knew of and was responsible for the torture of prisoners in his custody.