Syrian doctor on trial in Germany rejects torture allegations

Alaa Mousa accused of abusing anti-government protesters

Alaa Mousa is accused of physically and mentally torturing political prisoners opposed to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Reuters

A Syrian doctor accused of torturing and murdering anti-government protesters in Syria has told a German court that he felt sorry for detainees who were mistreated while rejecting the allegations.

Alaa Mousa, who is on trial in Germany for crimes against humanity, worked at a military hospital in Syria, where prosecutors say he kicked and beat inmates, doused a teenage boy's genitals in alcohol before setting them alight and operated on a patient without anaesthesia.

He has denied the allegations, saying he did not strike any detainees and “would never” operate without anaesthesia.

In total, Mr Mousa stands accused of 18 counts of torturing detainees in Damascus and the western city of Homs between 2011-12. He also faces one count of murder for allegedly administering a lethal injection to a prisoner who resisted interrogation, federal prosecutors said.

“I saw the military secret service beating injured detainees. I felt sorry for them, but I couldn't say anything, or it would have been me instead of the patient,” he told a Frankfurt court.

The case comes after a German court sentenced a former Syrian intelligence official to life in prison for overseeing the murder of 27 people and the torture of 4,000 others at a detention centre in Damascus a decade ago.

That trial was made possible under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows offences to be prosecuted even if committed in a foreign country.

Referring back to 2011 when the regime of Bashar Al Assad brutally cracked down on protesters, Mr Mousa said some demonstrators showed signs they had been tortured.

Mr Mousa said he never asked questions, having been told by his superior that the military secret service was “in control” of the hospital.

On at least one occasion, the doctor said he witnessed a blindfolded patient, his hands tied behind his back, being assaulted by members of the military secret service and some of the military medical staff working at the hospital.

“I was very scared of the military secret service and also of the medical staff that just joined in,” he told the court.

He also described it as “inhumane” to keep patients blindfolded while they were being sutured or otherwise treated.

Asked whether he felt sympathy for the demonstrators, Mr Mousa said neither he nor his family were political activists. “But I also wasn't a super supporter of the regime.”

The anti-Assad protests started off peacefully, he recalled, but he said they quickly turned more “radical”.

“I'm against violence on either side,” he added.

The doctor left Syria for Germany in mid-2015, arriving on a visa for skilled workers, but was arrested in 2020.