How a Syrian war criminal was brought to justice — in Germany

When refugees won historic convictions against the Syrian torture regime, they also opened a new front in the global fight for human rights, writes Alia Malek

Syrian Fadwa Mahmoud holds a photo of her son and partner as she leaves the courthouse in Koblenz, Germany, on January 13, 2022, where former Syrian intelligence officer Anwar Raslan was sentenced to life in jail for crimes against humanity in the first global trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria. Picture: Thomas Frey/ Pool/ AFP via Getty Images)

On the night of July 20, 2021, Ruham Hawash lay awake unsure of where she was, mistaking her hotel bed in Koblenz, Germany, for the cramped and filthy cell in Damascus where, in 2012, she was detained and brutalised. 

The next day, in a German court, she would see and testify against the Syrian colonel who oversaw her torture.