Austria has, since June 1, been conducting a trial of two former officials of the Syrian state apparatus, a former general and a former police officer, accused of torture and serious crimes committed against civilians imprisoned in Raqqa between 2011 and 2013.
Starting this Monday, June 8, the victims are heard.
The two defendants, who plead not guilty, are Khaled al-Halabi, 63, a former general of the Syrian intelligence services who has been in pre-trial detention since late 2024, and Musab Abu Rukhbah, a former head of the Raqqa Criminal Police Bureau, who sought asylum in 2015 in Austria, where they have lived ever since.
Al-Halabi, nicknamed the “torture general,” is believed to have arrived in the country with the help of Austrian intelligence services, as part of an agreement concluded with the Israeli Mossad.
According to the prosecution, while he was still in office, the former general received “direct orders” from the government in Syria, where violence was used “systematically” and where there were “standardized torture methods.” Presumed innocent, they face up to ten years in prison. The trial is scheduled to last until June 30.
This is unacceptable for Ahmad, whose testimony gathered in Vienna follows.
Ahmad participated in the very first protests in Raqqa against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. He was 17 years old and was arrested. He says he was imprisoned for a total of 14 months between 2011 and 2013. “There were various methods of torture,” says Ahmad, now 31 and settled in Germany. “There was an instrument called the ‘flying carpet’ and also electric shocks. So far, I have not managed to return to a normal life. It is because of the enormous psychological stress and the tortures we endured.”
“It is terrible to see that this kind of criminals can live normally in a country where freedom and democracy prevail,” he insists. “Today, it is important for me to testify because these criminals who tortured and imprisoned must be brought to justice, in memory of those who died under torture.”
