{"id":79736,"date":"2021-07-12T11:51:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T09:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/?p=79736"},"modified":"2021-07-12T12:12:21","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T10:12:21","slug":"caught-killing-on-camera-in-deir-ez-zor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/79736-caught-killing-on-camera-in-deir-ez-zor.html","title":{"rendered":"Caught killing on camera in Deir ez-Zor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On July 2, Dutch prosecutors demanded a 27-year prison sentence for Ahmad Al Khedr for a single war crime and participation in a terrorist group in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. At the heart of the case is the execution of a Syrian officer, caught on camera. Historian Thijs Bouwknegt tells the story of the first Syrian tried for murder before Dutch courts. While Dutch investigators still struggle to bring cases against government agents.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Al Mohassan, 10 July 2012. A clique of men sits in an extended pick-up truck. The guys are edgy and excited. Except Qussai Mahmoud Al Ali. Sitting mid-row, he glares down. His face is dotted with black spots and contusions. He is ridiculed because he is Alawite, the ethnic group of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Ahmad Al Khedr, who is behind the wheel, pulls over at a rubbly school building. Joined by another group, they march Al Ali over a cracked concrete courtyard, heading to a river bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Ali balances on his feet in the Euphrates. \u201cCan I pay you money?\u201d he asks. \u201c15\u2026?\u201d Al Khedr retorts: \u201c15 million is not worth a blood drop of the children killed in Deir ez-Zor, Homs, Al Houla or everywhere.\u201d Then somebody yells \u201cyalla\u201d. Al Khedr fires a bullet past Al Ali\u2019s head, another man discharges a Kalashnikov. Audible are 26 shots and a \u201cAllah Akbar\u201d. Al Khedr\u2019s emptied revolver clicks twice. The viral video is titled \u201cthe execution of the traitor officer Qussai Mahmoud Al Ali at the hand of Ghuraba\u2019a Mohassan, and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam brigades\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEither you are killed, or you go to prison\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Al Mohassan is located in the region of Deir ez-Zor, a cyclic atrocity crime scene. During World War I, the Ottoman Pashas starved Armenians in its deserts; from 2003, the US-American occupation of Iraq drove many purged Iraqi officials and jihadis into the region; since 2011, it has been a hotbed of violence between a myriad of armed factions and the Syrian army. By then Airforce Lieutenant-Colonel Al Ali worked with the State while Al Khedr, who had been in the government\u2019s army before, was now fighting with the opposition \u2013 meandering between the Ghuraba\u2019a, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Al Qaida associates.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Khedr fled Syria in late 2013. When his wife and children joined him in 2015, they moved to Kapelle, a peaceful town in the Netherlands with 10,000 inhabitants and five churches. Locals embraced the newcomers, giving them furniture and toys. Al Khedr\u2019s kids learned Dutch at school, and one works at the local supermarket. Neighbours would often come over for coffee. On Sundays they would go to the Dutch Reformed Church, which organises services in Arabic. Al Khedr volunteered at a community centre, on the neighbourhood bus and at the local football club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2019 his secrets came out. A Dutch agent, posing as an interpreter, visited Al Khedr at home. He warned the Syrian asylum seeker that he might be investigated over the footage of Al Ali\u2019s execution. Al Khedr admitted he was there, but stressed he had a \u201cclean conscience\u201d. A week later, Al Khedr was arrested and his house searched. His wife told investigators they had \u201cleft behind all the things that happened in Syria with Jabhat Al Nusra\u201d, a jihadist brigade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Khedr is charged with the war crime of murder and terrorism. \u201cSince 21 May 2019 my life is a mess. It is what to expect [when] you stand up against a dictator: either you are killed, or you go to prison \u2013 this is my faith,\u201d he said at trial on 15 June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difficulties of prosecuting government agents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For two years (stretching over nine pre-trial hearings and two trial days on 15 and 17 June), The Hague District Court\u2019s International Crimes Chamber has been hearing Al Khedr\u2019s case<\/a> at \u201cthe bunker\u201d in Amsterdam, and at other high-security courts at Schiphol Airport and in Rotterdam. Since 2003, the specialised chamber has tried 20 suspects for atrocities in DR-Congo, Iraq, Liberia, Guinea, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, and Ukraine. Syria has been a focus country for Dutch war crimes and terrorism prosecutors since 2011<\/a>, but their strategy was first to push through quick and easy-to-prove cases against Dutch men and women for joining or supporting terrorist groups. Oussama Achraf Akhlafa<\/a> was the first among them to be sentenced in 2019 for a war crime. The latest war crimes judgement was rendered on 29 June, when an unnamed Dutch ISIS propagandist<\/a> was convicted for inciting war crimes and outrages against personal dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the mass murder of Yazidis in Sinjar, Iraq, in August 2014 by Islamic State (ISIS) forces, the Dutch government and parliament endeavoured to create an ISIS-Tribunal, or alternatively appoint a specialised prosecutor<\/a> for alleged genocide by ISIS foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria. In 2020, the Dutch made a bold move<\/a> against Syria\u2019s government itself, by lodging a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over alleged violations of the Torture Convention. But ICJ cases are about state liability, not about individual criminal responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is reported<\/a> that some former regime members and pro-government Shabiha (\u201cghosts\u201d) militiamen are on Dutch soil. But lack of access to the Levant, lack of solid beyond-a-reasonable-doubt <\/em>type of evidence and \u2018suspect unavailability\u2019 have left Dutch police and prosecutors with Syrians like Al Khedr \u2013 people who fought the regime and fled to Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are in The Guardian!\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Al Khedr is the second Syrian on trial in the Netherlands. Ahmad \u201cAl Y.\u201d, of the Ahrar Al Sham brigade, was convicted last April<\/a> for a war crime (posting a video in which he poses with, sings about, exhibits, kicks and spits on four deceased bodies) committed six years earlier. Al Khedr is the first murder suspect. Like no other, he has left a trail of incrimination. After German colleagues had tipped off the Dutch police (his name first came up in a German investigation), they only had to google him to find Al Khedr quoted in the British newspaper The Guardian<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month after Al Ali\u2019s killing, Al Khedr, using his nom-de-guerre<\/em> \u2018Abu Khuder\u2019, had talked to journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad. Back then, he had been with the Ghuraba'a (\"strangers\"), a local police-like brigade that closely worked with the FSA military council. After a failed attack on a government garrison, he had befriended Islamist fighters who had come to help. Thus started his connection to Jabhat Al Nusra (JN). The journalist wrote that Al Khedr had grown a beard, espoused jihadist rhetoric and commanded a JN battalion. Al Khedr said they fought in secret, and that they were good with improvising explosives and car bombs. \u201cIf you don't commit sins there is nothing to fear,\" he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are in The Guardian! Why in God\u2019s name did you tell the journalist all this?\u201d asked one of the judges during trial. Al Khedr explained he \u201chad to lay it on thick\u201d and talked positively about the jihadists so that they \u201cleave him alone\u201d. He blamed the journalist for reporting inaccurately. Yet, Al Khedr\u2019s son \u2013 about 12 years old at the time \u2013 shared the article on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy did your son do this?\u201d asked prosecutor Wieger Veldhuis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a child, he placed this without thinking about it,\u201d replied Al Khedr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour son calls you, many times, a commander [\u2026], a mujahid; he tweeted about your involvement in Jabhat Al Nusra and Ghuraba\u2019a Mohassan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do not think this was my son\u2019s account.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Khedr\u2019s own behaviour on Facebook was discussed during the nine pre-trial hearings. Commenting on a video of an ISIS attack on the Iranian parliament building that killed 17 people, he wrote: \u201cDelightful. I hope to see this every day.\u201d His lawyers, however, explained that Al Khedr \u201cdetests Assad and Iran, but he is not pro-ISIS.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short trials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dutch proceedings are inquisitorial. Actual trials, or \u201chearings on the merits\u201d, are short. Testimony is pre-recorded by the investigative magistrate (in the presence of a prosecutor and lawyer), who compiles an evidentiary record. In Al Khedr\u2019s case, a dozen witnesses (including two of Al Khedr\u2019s brothers) were heard in the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey and Switzerland \u2013 and one was heard in Syria via WhatsApp. The thick file stretches over 8,000 pages and includes seven videos, Tweets and Facebook posts, transcripts of phone-taps, police minutes and a former diplomat\u2019s report on the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking turns, the three judges read out statements, discussed the videos and inquired about Al Khedr\u2019s personal circumstances. Al Khedr and the interpreter sat shoulder to shoulder. When they disagreed on translations, Al Khedr got agitated and switched to Dutch. Dressed in jogging pants and a sports polo shirt, he countered a volley of questions. Sometimes he spoke before his turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Khedr had voluntarily joined the army, where he stayed for 21 years. Next to patrolling borders, he was doing administrative work. \u201cDid you train in shooting?\u201d the Chamber asked. \u201cYes, we practiced with a Makarov .85 and a Kalashnikov,\u201d replied Al Khedr. He said he \u201cretired\u201d from the Syrian army after he witnessed the army killing people, raping women and looting houses in Al Mohassan where locals appointed him to head the Ghuraba'a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lines of defence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On 17 June, the Chamber watched two videos of Al Ali\u2019s murder from different angles. Al Khedr said he found it tough to see material that reminded him \u201cof being forced\u201d to pull the trigger. But the Netherlands Forensic Institute concluded that six bullets were fired from his revolver, and at least one hit the victim in the chest. Al Khedr said his gun \u201conly had three bullets\u201d; \u201csomebody else\u201d must have fired the other shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Khedr claimed to have had only one goal on 10 July 2012: he wanted to keep Al Ali alive and trade him for two of his brothers who were detained at Saydnaya prison. He said he pleaded with the actual capturers (notably a man called Abu Dujana) that Al Ali was more valuable alive than dead. \u201cIt was not my plan to kill this man,\u201d Al Khedr told the Chamber: \u201cAs you can see in the video, I misfired, I shot at the sides,\u201d but \u201cI could no longer do anything to stop Abu Dujana\u2019s decision to kill him\u201d; \u201cI had to adjust to the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo you decided to play along?\u201d asked the judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPrecisely,\u201d said Al Khedr, stressing the situation had become too dangerous. \u201cStanding by would have only increased Abu Dujana\u2019s distrust \u2013 I had no other opportunity to save myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His defence was now to show he got caught up in the act of killing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when prosecutor Veldhuis brought up the killing of 108 people, including 49 children, in Al Houla eight weeks before Al Ali\u2019s execution. This was \u201ca war crime\u201d he stated, \u201cthat was likely carried out by the Shabiha\u201d. Al Khedr agreed. Then Velduis reminded the court of Al Khedr\u2019s remarks to Al Ali \u2013 saying his money could not make up for that bloodbath. Al Khedr had told investigators that Al Ali was involved in the massacre \u201cduring his free time\u201d. Veldhuis raised his voice. \u201cNothing in the investigation points at any involvement at all,\u201d he stated. \u201cDid you not have the wrong man? Was it not just revenge on any military who also happened to be Alawite?\u201d Al Khedr denied this: \u201cI swear by God I have more Alawite than Sunni friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t
Recommended reading<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t
\"\"<\/div><\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\tSyria: Why Dutch prosecutors link terrorism and war crimes\r\n\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n
\n

\"ThijsTHIJS BOUWKNEGT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thijs Bouwknegt is a historian of mass violence and transitional justice at the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On July 2, Dutch prosecutors demanded a 27-year prison sentence for Ahmad Al Khedr for a single war crime and participation in a terrorist group in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. At the heart of the case is the execution of a Syrian officer, caught on camera. Historian Thijs Bouwknegt tells the story of the first Syrian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":79732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[567,2801],"tags":[2915,2683],"ji_location":[2373,2499],"class_list":["post-79736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-universal-jurisdiction","tag-terrorism","tag-war-crime","ji_location-netherlands","ji_location-syria"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCaught killing on camera in Deir ez-Zor - JusticeInfo.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On July 2, Dutch prosecutors demanded a 27-year prison sentence for Ahmad Al Khedr for a single war crime and participation in a terrorist group in Deir ez-Zor, Syria. At the heart of the case is the execution of a Syrian officer, caught on camera. 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