US accuses 2 former Syrian intelligence officers with war crimes

The US Justice Department said Monday that two former Syrian intelligence officials under the Bashar al-Assad regime were charged with war crimes.

According to a statement, former Syrian Air Force Intelligence officers Jamil Hassan, 72, and Abdul Salam Mahmoud, 65, were each charged in connection with a conspiracy to commit war crimes through the infliction of cruel and inhuman treatment on detainees under their control, including US citizens, in detention facilities at the Mezzeh Military Airport (Mezzeh Prison), near the Syrian capital Damascus.

The officials remain at large, the department said in the statement.

"The perpetrators of the Assad regime's atrocities against American citizens and other civilians during the Syrian civil war must answer for their heinous crimes," said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

"As alleged, these Assad regime intelligence officials whipped, kicked, electrocuted and burned their victims; hung them by their wrists for prolonged periods of time; threatened them with rape and death; and falsely told them that their family members had been killed," said Garland.

According to the indictment, Hassan was the director of Syrian Air Force Intelligence and oversaw a network of detention facilities, while Mahmoud was a brigadier general in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence and directed operations at the Mezzeh Prison.

"The indictment alleges that between January 2012 and July 2019, Hassan and Mahmoud conspired to identify, intimidate, threaten, punish and kill people detained at Mezzeh Prison suspected of aiding or supporting opponents of the regime, such as those who protested, provided medical aid to opponents of the regime, or publicly criticized the regime," said the statement.

If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of life in prison.