Alaa Mousa was accused of torturing detainees at military hospitals during Syrian civil war, under former ruler Bashar al-Assad

A German court has sentenced a Syrian doctor to life in prison for crimes against humanity for torturing detainees at military hospitals under the former ruler Bashar al-Assad.

The crimes committed by Alaa Mousa, 40, during the Syrian civil war were “part of a brutal reaction by Assad’s dictatorial, unjust regime”, said the presiding judge at the higher regional court in Frankfurt, Christoph Koller.