Vienna Torture Trial: Verdict Against Former Syrian Intelligence Officials Expected on Monday

Al-Halabi headed the intelligence service in the Syrian city of Raqqa until 2013. After the city fell in 2013, he deserted to the Free Syrian Army and later to the terrorist militia ISIS. He subsequently claims to have been smuggled into Austria by Israeli intelligence, where he is in custody: he has been held in pre-trial detention at the Vienna-Josefstadt correctional facility since the end of 2024.

Allegations and Victim Testimony

The charges accuse both of having participated between 2011 and 2013 in the mistreatment of at least 21 identified former prisoners during the Syrian revolution. According to the public prosecutor's office, torture was used in order to "die damalige Protestbewegung gegen das Regime zu unterdrücken und die Bevölkerung einzuschüchtern." The massive physical mistreatment was used to force the detainees to confess, according to the indictment.

In the past four weeks, dozens of Syrian torture victims have testified in court. Several affected persons, who had traveled from abroad especially for the trial, gave powerful testimony of the violence they experienced. Victims came from all over Europe to Vienna, with many recounting their trauma publicly for the first time. One of them is Karim, now working as a teacher, who was arrested at the age of 19 in 2012 during a demonstration against the Assad regime and traveled from Sweden specifically for the trial.

Karim described how, at a "Willkommensfeier" hosted by the criminal police, he was kicked and beaten on the back by ten to fifteen men. He also said that one of the accused had insulted him and other prisoners as "stinkendes Vieh." He further reported having spent 24 days in a four-square-meter cell with 40 prisoners. According to his brother, Karim still suffers from chronic back pain today.

A former administrative employee testified that he had heard screams during interrogations in offices on the same floor as Al-Halabi's and had seen torture instruments such as hoses, a car tire, and batons. "Ja, sie haben gefoltert," he said, referring to Al-Halabi's subordinates. Witnesses also reported that they had recognized their tormentors by their voices, since interrogations often took place with their eyes blindfolded or covered.

Defense Strategy and Legal Framework

The witness accounts described electric shocks, hours of being suspended by the wrists, and torture on the so-called "fliegenden Teppich" – a folding board used to hyperextend the body. A co-witness named Basel A. was reportedly beaten and sexually abused by an investigative commission that interrogated demonstrators.

The defense argued that Al-Halabi belongs to the Druze minority and had to follow orders. The subordinates who carried out the torture were members of the Alawite religious community. International legal expert Ralph Janik described the defense strategy as a "Waldheim-Argument," referencing former Austrian Federal President Kurt Waldheim.

Outlook on the Verdict

The charges are not based on war crimes, but on bodily harm and sexual coercion. The background is that Austria only expanded torture as a criminal offense in 2013 and universal jurisdiction only in 2015 – after most of the alleged acts had already taken place. The evidentiary proceedings in this case have already been formally concluded.

Still pending are the closing statements by the prosecutor, the victims' representatives, and the defense. How long the lay judges' panel will need to deliberate on the questions of guilt and sentencing remains unclear. The verdict is expected to be announced on Monday afternoon.

One victim thanked the court and Austria: "Danke an das Gericht und auch Österreich, dass sie versuchen, für Gerechtigkeit zu sorgen." The trial is considered one of the first worldwide in which former officials of the Syrian regime are standing trial in a third country for actions during the Syrian revolution.