Former Syrian army member gets 12-year prison sentence in the Netherlands

Syrian human rights activist, Mansour Al-Omari, explained that The Hague’s District Court sentenced a former member of a Syrian pro-government armed group, Mustafa Al-Dahoudi, to 12 years in prison after convicting him of committing war crimes in Syria, ABC news reports.

According to the report, along with the case filed by the Netherlands and Canada in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the Syrian regime over the state’s practice of torture, represents another step toward achieving justice for victims of arrest, disappearance and torture during detention.

On 31 October, 2023, the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) stated that a member of the Al-Quds Brigade would stand trial in Dutch courts, amid several European trials of those accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.

In recent years, Dutch courts have issued war crime convictions to several Syrian nationals who were members of opposition militias and other armed groups in Syria.

READ: Foreign Policy: US is ‘planning to withdraw from Syria’