Dutch court convicts a Syrian of torture under universal jurisdiction
A court in The Hague sentenced a Syrian man to 26 years in prison on June 15 for torture, rape and other crimes against humanity committed while he worked as an interrogator for Bashar al-Assad’s government in 2013 and 2014. The defendant, identified only as Rafik A, was found to have tortured eight victims — including by suspending them upside down and applying electric shocks — either directly or by ordering others to do so, said presiding judge Wim van Hattum.
The case was the Netherlands’ first to prosecute sexual violence as a crime against humanity. It was brought under universal jurisdiction, the principle that lets national courts try grave international crimes regardless of where they occurred. Rafik A had entered the country as an asylum seeker and was arrested in 2023.
The verdict adds to a string of European prosecutions of former Assad-era officials that have accelerated since the government’s overthrow in December 2024, as courts in Europe become the main venue for accountability while Syria’s own transitional institutions remain unsettled.