Representative image (AP Photo)
A new media report has revealed more details about the grave human rights violations committed by the regime of Syria’s ousted President Bashar Assad.The report, conducted by German public broadcaster NDR, looked at over 70,000 photos of Syrian prisons and prisoners, mostly taken between 2015 and 2024. It also examined thousands of pages of confidential documents from Syrian intelligence services.Many of the photos, which NDR said were leaked by a former military personnel, show clear signs of torture, malnutrition and mistreatment at Syrian facilities.The data was also shared with other organizations, including German broadcaster WDR, German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Why are German prosecutors involved?
The report zooms in on one Harasta military hospital in the suburbs of the Syrian capital, Damascus. It cites accounts of prisoners who report torture at the hospital, saying there was a special floor designated for torture and accusing the hospital staff of complicity.Many doctors would also sign the death certificates of deceased prisoners, listing “cardiac arrest” as the cause of death, regardless of what actually killed the prisoners. NDR, WDR and SZ spoke to former doctors at the hospital who all confirmed that torture took place there but denied any wrongdoing. The report mentioned that some of those doctors now practice in Germany.The investigated material was submitted to Germany’s public prosecutor general. Syrian perpetrators can be tried in Germany for crimes they committed in their home country on the basis of the principle of universal jurisdiction.German courts have prosecuted Syrians accused of committing crimes during the country’s civil war, which lasted well over a decade.Assad was ousted last year by an Islamist-led offensive that ended his family’s decades-long rule.
