\n A Hungarian court sentenced a Syrian man to life imprisonment Thursday for terrorism and crimes against humanity including the beheading of an imam in Syria in 2015.\n<\/p>\n
\n The man was a commander of the Islamic State group, and must spend at least 30 years behind bars, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Court of Budapest sent to AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"His task was to make a 'death list' of 'enemies of Islam',\" the court statement said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He was personally involved in the execution of several people, including the beheading of a tribal leader.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The man has been identified in local media as 28-year-old F. Hassan.\n<\/p>\n
\n His lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, as did prosecutors, who had sought a life term without parole.\n<\/p>\n
\n According to prosecutors, the defendant commanded a small IS unit in Homs province in 2015 tasked with terrorising and executing civilians and religious leaders who refused to side with the group.\n<\/p>\n
\n Prosecutors said he personally took part in the beheading of an imam in the town of al-Sukhnah, and in the murder of another civilian in the area in May 2015.\n<\/p>\n
\n His unit also killed at least 25 people in the town including women and children, prosecutors say.\n<\/p>\n
\n Authorities in Malta, Greece and Belgium as well as in Hungary took part in the investigation, which was coordinated by the European judicial cooperation agency Eurojust.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some 10 witnesses in Belgium and Malta, as well as in Hungary, gave testimony.\n<\/p>\n
\n The man, who had been given refugee status in Greece, was held at Budapest airport in December 2018, after he presented forged travel documents for himself and a female travel partner.\n<\/p>\n
\n His defence lawyer had argued that prosecutors' evidence -- including wire-tapped telephone calls, video footage of the murders and the man's own statements -- failed to support the accusations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Hungarian court sentenced a Syrian man to life imprisonment Thursday for terrorism and crimes against humanity including the beheading of an imam in Syria in 2015. The man was a commander of the Islamic State group, and must spend at least 30 years behind bars, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Court of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-46167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n