A Vienna court has convicted two former Syrian security officials for offenses including torture and sexual assault against opponents of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The primary defendant, identified as Khaled al-Halabi, served as the head of the General Intelligence Directorate in Raqqa from 2011 to 2013. He was sentenced to eight years in prison after more than a dozen victims testified that they were beaten, electrocuted, or doused in hot and cold water.
Although al-Halabi denied involvement, the court deemed him responsible for the abuse of detainees. The two men have been living in Austria since 2015, and the case was one of the first the country has brought under the principle of universal jurisdiction.