Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
Germany has charged a Syrian doctor with crimes against humanity for torturing people in military hospitals in his homeland, sometimes even burning their genitals so badly that in at least two cases his victims died.
Physician Alla Mousa was charged with crimes against humanity for torturing severely ill people at two Syrian military hospitals and a prison of the military secret service, according to a statement by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe on Wednesday (28th July).
The man, who moved to the German state of Hesse in 2015, was accused of 18 counts of torment and was charged with murder, severe bodily harm, attempted bodily harm and dangerous bodily harm for the crimes he committed in the Syrian cities of Homs and Damascus between 2011 and 2012.
Mousa, who practised medicine before he was arrested on 19th June, 2020, had reportedly molested and in two cases even killed injured civilians who were associated with the opposition and the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.
The Syrian doctor supposedly poured alcohol over the genitals of a teenage boy and another man and set fire to them with a cigarette lighter at military hospital No 608 in Homs.
The doctor also kicked another patient’s open, infected wound, and poured disinfectant into it after which he set it on fire.
He then tortured nine more people that were hanging from the ceiling and beat them using a plastic baton at the same hospital in 2011.
The indictment reported that Mousa beat another prisoner who was suffering an epileptic seizure, and drugged him a few days later without the exact cause of death ever being clearly identified.
With the help of a male nurse, Mousa allegedly beat and kicked an inmate severely and even injected a toxic substance in him, after the man tried to defend himself by kicking back in 2012.
The man reportedly died within a few minutes of getting the jab.
Mousa is also accused of physically and emotionally abusing prisoners at the military hospital Mezzeh No 601 in the city of Damascus between late 2011 and March 2012.
General Secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights Wolfgang Kaleck said in a statement: “Grave crimes against Syria’s civil society are not only taking place in the detention centres of the intelligence services: Syria’s torture and extermination system is complex and only exists thanks to the support of a wide variety of actors.”
Kaleck stated: “With the trial [of Mousa], the role of military hospitals and medical staff in this system could be addressed for the very first time.”
The general secretary also noted the trial could also be important in terms of addressing sexual violence and added: “Sexual violence is being used as a weapon — systematically and intentionally — against the opposition in Syria. Those affected not only suffer physical and psychological consequences but are also stigmatized and discriminated by society.”
According to Kaleck, Mousa’s trial “could make them seen and thus also send an important signal to the many survivors who have remained silent until now.”
