Alaa Mousa, 40, was found guilty by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court of participating in the torture and abuse of prisoners accused of opposing the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The offences took place in 2011 and 2012, during the early phase of Syria’s civil war, while Mousa served as a junior doctor at an army hospital and a military intelligence facility in Homs and Damascus.

Mousa, a supporter of Assad, was convicted over the deaths of two individuals and the severe torture of eight others. The court imposed a life sentence – the most severe penalty available under German law.

In delivering the judgment, Judge Christoph Koller said Mousa had “seriously injured nine people, both physically and mentally, and killed two”. He described Mousa’s actions as war crimes and murder, and characterised the doctor as “sadistic”. The court found that he had “enjoyed harming people that he considered inferior and of lower value to himself”.

The conviction follows a trial lasting nearly three-and-a-half years. Over 50 witnesses gave evidence, detailing acts of extreme brutality. The court heard how Mousa beat and kicked detainees, set broken bones without adequate anaesthetic, and poured flammable liquid on prisoners’ bodies – including on the genitals of a 14-year-old boy – before setting them alight.

In one case, Mousa injected a prisoner with a lethal dose of poison while the man was attempting to defend himself. In another, he was found to have fatally medicated a young man suffering from epilepsy, knowing the treatment would lead to his death. The man died in front of his brother.

Mousa moved to Germany a decade ago and worked as an orthopaedic specialist in several clinics, most recently in Bad Wildungen, Hessen. He was arrested in summer 2020 after victims recognised him in a television documentary about Homs and alerted the authorities.

His trial began in January 2022 and ran for nearly 190 court days. It proceeded under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows German courts to try cases involving war crimes and crimes against humanity regardless of where they occurred or the nationality of the accused.

Mousa denied all charges, claiming he had been framed as part of a conspiracy. His legal team argued he was not in Homs at the time of the two killings and sought acquittal on those counts.

He appeared in court wearing a black coat with a fur-lined hood pulled over his face and pleaded not guilty.