Anwar Raslan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anwar Raslan (Arabic: أنور رسلان),[1] born 3 February 1963[2]) is a former Syrian colonel who led a unit of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate.[3] In 2020, he was charged with crimes against humanity in a German Higher Regional Court under universal jurisdiction.[3] The specific charges against him are 4,000 counts of torture, 58 counts of murder, and rape and sexual coercion.[4] His case is the first internationally against a member of the Syrian regime under Bashar al-Assad.[5]

Life[]

Anwar Raslan was born in 1963 in Taldou in the Homs governorate. After completing a degree in law, he worked as a military officer in Damascus. In 2006, Raslan was responsible for the detention of Syrian lawyer and human rights defender Anwar al-Bunni. In 2008, he became colonel, and head of the intelligence department of , also known as branch al-Khatib, part of the General Intelligence Directorate. Raslan was tasked with the internal safety of a Damascus prison. In July 2012, Raslan moved to branch 285 of the state security forces. Branch 285 mostly dealt with prisoners deemed important, such as political detainees.[6]

According to the German journalist  [de], who interviewed Raslan in Jordan, Raslan defected out of shame for his employer: he had wanted to investigate an attack in Damascus of January 2012, which the government refused since the attack had been staged by the Syrian secret service.[7]

Arrest[]

Raslan defected from the Assad regime and he and his family were smuggled to Jordan in December 2012.[8] He came to Germany in 2014 and was granted asylum in the same year.[9] He was arrested in Germany in February 2019[10] and charged in March 2020; the trial began in April 2020 and is taking place in the city of Koblenz[4] where it may last over a year.[5] Due to the lack of official recording by the German Court, organizations including ECCHR and the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre have been documenting the trial of Anwar Raslan to ensure the Syrian people can access information and updates about the case.[11] This prosecution is part of a larger trend in universal Jurisdiction to investigate and hold accountable individuals who committed crimes during the Syrian Civil War.

References[]

  1. ^ "من مخابرات الأسد إلى المنفى.. مسار سوريّين يحاكمان في ألمانيا | DW | 25.04.2020". Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com) (in Arabic). Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  2. ^ "Inside the Anwar Raslan trial: the first four days". Syria Justice & Accountability Centre. 2020-05-07. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "High-profile Syrian war crimes trial begins in Germany. Intelligence official charged with overseeing 4,000 counts of torture and 58 murders". Financial Times. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Anklage gegen zwei mutmaßliche Mitarbeiter des syrischen Geheimdienstes wegen der Begehung von Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit u.a. zugelassen". rlp.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Laws to catch human-rights abusers are growing teeth". The Economist. 2021-01-02. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2021-01-03. Mr Raslan was arrested in 2019. His trial began in Koblenz in April 2020 and may last for more than a year. (...) The Koblenz case is the first where a member of the Syrian regime, albeit of middle rank, is facing justice in court.
  6. ^ "À la recherche d'Anwar Raslan, tortionnaire syrien". Les Jours (in French). 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
  7. ^ "Le colonel Raslan, déserteur mais faux repenti". Les Jours (in French). 2020-04-18. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  8. ^ SPIEGEL, Fidelius Schmid, Christoph Reuter, DER. "Koblenz: Prozess gegen Anwar Raslan aus Syrien - DER SPIEGEL - Politik". www.spiegel.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  9. ^ NDR. "Asyl für syrischen Folterchef?". daserste.ndr.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  10. ^ "Germany charges two Syrians with crimes against humanity". the Guardian. 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  11. ^ "A Drop in the Ocean: A Preliminary Assessment of the Koblenz Trial on Syrian Torture". Just Security. 2021-04-22. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
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