A doctor is facing charges against humanity in Germany for allegedly subjecting people to torture in military hospitals. Alla Mousa, a Syrian doctor who came to Germany in 2015 to practice medicine is accused of 18 counts of torturing people in military hospitals in the Syrian cities of Homs and Damascus. Mousa was arrested last year on allegations of making people infertile including the death of one person.
The beginning of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 ushered in opposition protesters who were frequently arrested and tortured. Those who were injured during protests were taken to military hospitals where they experienced numerous alleged abuses, torture and even death.
In a statement from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe on Wednesday, German prosecutors accused Mousa of torturing more than a dozen people in 2011 at a military hospital in Homs by beating and kicking them. He allegedly poured alcohol over the genitals of a man and a teenage boy then set them on fire using a cigarette lighter.
In the same hospital, a man suffering from epileptic seizures was allegedly beaten and kicked by Mousa and was given medication. A fews days later, the man died from causes that were never clearly identified.
On top of torture allegations, the Syrian doctor is also accused of abusing inmates between late 2011 and March 2012 in a military hospital in Damascus. Mousa allegedly hung people from the ceiling and beat them with a plastic baton, and had even poured flammable liquid on the hand of an inmate then set it on fire.
One notable case was that of an inmate he had allegedly beaten and when the man tried to defend himself by kicking back, Mousa had one of the male nurses lend a hand. After beating the man, a toxic substance was administered which resulted in the death of the inmate.
The principle of universal jurisdiction for serious crimes has allowed German prosecutors to bring such charges on Mousa for crimes he had committed in his homeland. Mousa’s federal indictment includes murder, severe bodily harm, attempted bodily harm and dangerous bodily harm.
According to Al Jazeera, a potential date of trial for Mousa still hangs in the air citing that the concerned doctor has the right to be presumed innocent until he is proven guilty in his home country. It is not yet clear how Mousa intends to plead on his charges.
