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Trial against Alaa M. (2022)

On January 19, 2022, the trial against the Syrian doctor Alaa M. began.
He was accused by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of having committed crimes against humanity at Military Hospital 608 in Homs. Between 2011 and 2012, the now 36-year-old defendant allegedly tortured and intentionally killed prisoners at the military intelligence prison who were said to have opposed the Assad regime.

On June 16, 2025, Alaa M. was sentenced by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt am Main to life imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and murder.

The former Syrian doctor, who has lived and practiced in Germany since 2015, was found by the court to have, during 2011 and 2012, acted as a civilian doctor at a military hospital in Homs (Syria) and in a detention facility of Branch 261 of the Syrian military intelligence. There, he tortured, sexually abused, and in two cases killed prisoners associated with the Syrian opposition.

For more information about the trial and the verdict against Alaa M., please visit the website of the OLG Frankfurt. Various news reports on the verdict are also available, such as here on tagesschau.de.

The trial was observed by the Trial Monitoring observers.