In world first, Germany convicts Syrian regime officer of crimes against humanity

A German court has convicted a former Syrian regime officer for crimes against humanity, in a first-ever trial of people linked to the government in Damascus.

Former intelligence officer Eyad al-Gharib, 44, was sentenced to four-and-a-half-years in prison by a court in the German city of Koblenz for aiding crimes against humanity. Gharib was convicted of accompanying the transportation of 30 detained demonstrators, despite knowing about the systematic torture in the prison the detainees were being sent to, according to the prosecutors. The protesters were allegedly beaten on the way to prison.