Halabi \u2014 a Druze, who fled Raqqa in 2013, just before the Islamic State group overran the city \u2014 denied that torture took place while he was in command.<\/p>\n
\t \u201cThere were no instructions\u201d from the government to use violence, he told the court through a translator as masked, armed police stood watch.<\/p>\n He added that his unit just took down the personal details of those held and did not conduct any investigations.<\/p>\n Abu Rukbah did not testify. His lawyer, Philipp Wolm, said there was no evidence against him.<\/p>\n \u2018Standardized torture methods\u2019<\/p>\n The prosecution said Halabi got \u201cdirect instructions\u201d from the Damascus government and violence was used \u201csystematically\u201d with \u201cstandardized torture methods,\u201d including beatings and being hosed down.<\/p>\n The two Syrians applied for asylum in Austria in 2015.<\/p>\n At the time of Halabi\u2019s indictment, activists considered him the highest-ranking Syrian official responsible for abuses present in Europe.<\/p>\n He is charged with torture, aggravated coercion, sexual coercion and multiple counts of serious bodily harm. Abu Rukbah is accused of serious bodily harm, aggravated coercion and sexual coercion. Both face up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-one individuals detained in prisons were tortured and abused as part of the crackdown on a civilian protest movement,\u201d Austrian prosecutors said in their statement ahead of the trial.<\/p>\n The 10-year statute of limitations that would ordinarily apply was lifted, the indictment said.<\/p>\n International treaties, including the United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, meant prosecutors were obliged to bring charges, it said.<\/p>\n Austrian law provides for the jurisdiction of local courts over certain offenses committed abroad.<\/p>\n Alleged victims to testify<\/p>\n The Vienna court has jurisdiction because the defendants reside there. The trial is scheduled to last until June 30, with alleged victims residing in Syria and Europe expected to testify.<\/p>\n Anwar al-Bunni, a Syrian lawyer based in Germany who himself spent five years in Syrian prisons and was present for Monday\u2019s trial opening, said the general should have faced additional charges.<\/p>\n \t He called the trial \u201cimportant\u201d but told AFP: \u201cI don\u2019t know really why they don\u2019t charge him with crimes against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n Senior Austrian officials suspected of having protected the former brigadier general were acquitted in 2023.<\/p>\n Prosecutors had accused them of helping him obtain protection in the Alpine country, referencing an agreement<\/a> allegedly concluded in May 2015 with Israel\u2019s Mossad intelligence agency.<\/p>\n Mossad is said to have brought the Syrian military officer to Austria from France, where he was at the time, according to local media.<\/p>\n When asked in court, Halabi said relatives helped him.<\/p>\n In 2016, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), a group that gathers evidence for alleged war criminals, informed Vienna of Halabi\u2019s alleged crimes.<\/p>\n According to Austrian news agency APA, the purported agreement with Mossad, code-named \u201cWhite Milk\u201d, had been overseen by Martin Weiss, then head of the Austrian intelligence service (BVT).<\/p>\n Weiss is on the run in Dubai and wanted for supposed links to fugitive Austrian spy Jan Marsalek, who is suspected of being protected by Moscow.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel\u2019s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.<\/p>\n You can screen ‘The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg’ June 4-11.\u00a0 Join The Times of Israel Community today to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tEx-Syrian general defendant Khaled al-Halabi (C, hidden) covers his face as he is escorted to the courtroom by justice officers for the trial at the Regional Court of Vienna in Vienna, Austria, on June 1, 2026. (Joe Klamar\/AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/000_TL0Q7-e1508555377474-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA picture taken on October 20, 2017, shows heavily damaged buildings in Raqqa, after a Kurdish-led force expelled Islamic State fighters from the northern Syrian city. (AFP Photo\/Bulent Kilic)<\/p>\n
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