Inside the Ahmad H. Trial #11: An Encounter on the Tram
TRIAL OF AHMAD H.
Hanseatic Higher Regional Court – Hamburg, Germany
Trial Monitoring Summary #11
Hearing Dates: September 3 & 4, 2024
CAUTION: Some testimony includes descriptions of torture.
Note that this summary is not a verbatim transcript of the trial; it is merely an unofficial summary of the proceedings.
Throughout this summary, [information located in brackets are notes from our trial monitor] and “information placed in quotes are statements made by the witness, judges or counsel.” The names and identifying information of witnesses have been redacted.
[Note: SJAC provides a summary of the proceedings while redacting certain details to protect witness privacy and to preserve the integrity of the trial.]
SJAC’s 11th trial monitoring report details day 17 and day 18 of the trial of Ahmad H. in Hamburg, Germany. Two new witnesses appeared in court this week. Both knew the Accused and had seen him several times around Tadamon. The first witness, P15, testified to having seen Ahmad H. driving around in a yellow excavator, carrying a weapon, and having seen him in the company of other NDF members generally. P15 explained that he had also randomly encountered the Accused on a tram in [redacted location]. The Accused had mistaken him for someone else and P15 did not report this encounter to the police as he did not define the Accused as a “war criminal.”
The second witness of the week, P16, appeared to have had a closer but also an exploitative relationship with the Accused as the witness recounted that Ahmad H. would visit his shop almost every day and, on some occasions, take products without paying. The witness testified to having lent money to the Accused to flee Syria and recounted that the reasoning for Ahmad H. escaping the country was to leave the NDF.
Day 17 – September 3, 2024
Today, a new witness was questioned, [redacted name], P15. He owned a [redacted information]. He had also owned a house in the district, which was destroyed by the regime based on the argument that terrorists (i.e. people from the opposition) had allegedly been hiding behind it.
When questioned by the Judge about whether he knew the Accused, P15 revealed that he in fact knew Ahmad H. and had seen him various times in the neighborhood. According to P15, the Accused was driving a yellow excavator, was seen by the witness with other NDF members, and was also dressed as these NDF members referring to a military camo suit as the witness explained later. P15 also said that he witnessed Ahmad H. carrying a Kalashnikov.
P15 then told the Judge that he had seen Ahmad H. take people "away" to undertake forced labor. P15 also testified that two of P15's brothers were taken by Ahmad H. at different times and had to undertake forced labor for the NDF for one day. The witness himself testified to having never been kidnapped to undertake forced labor. P15 left Syria in 2014.
The witness also remembered that people in the neighborhood of [redacted location] were afraid of Ahmad H. and ran away from him. He recalled that they sometimes hid in P15's shop. The witness further testified that the Accused had "a frightening appearance."
P15 also recalled that there was an incident at a pharmacy, which Ahmad H. entered unarmed, and took some medicine from the shop without paying. According to the witness, this was normal behavior for several NDF members at the time. The pharmacy owner was too scared to ask for money, P15 recounted.
The witness then surprisingly testified to having seen Ahmad H. in Germany on a tram in [redacted location] on the way to the central railway station. The witness recalled that they chatted briefly because Ahmad H. thought to have recognized the witness. However, Ahmad H. seemed to have mistaken him for a restaurant owner from [redacted location]. According to the witness’s account, Ahmad H. told P15 that he was currently living in Sweden. Upon further inquiry by the Court, confusion remained about in which year this encounter had taken place. The witness explained that it was in 2015, but in the asylum hearing transcript read out by the Judge it said 2019. The Judge then asked the witness whether he had not been scared to see the Accused in Germany and asked him why he did not go to the police after the encounter. The witness answered that he did not have reason to report Ahmad H. to the police and that he had felt sorry for him.
The Judges were further interested to know if P15 had also seen [redacted name]. P15 confirmed and remembered to have seen him multiple times. He explained that [redacted name] beat people on the street and defined him as “a bad person.” P15 also recounted having seen [redacted name] in the neighborhood, an NDF leader who had a higher rank than [redacted name].
After this, the Prosecution continued with just a few questions regarding the name under which the witness had known the Accused. P15 replied, "Abu Haider Trucks". The Prosecution further wanted to know whether Ahmad H. was always armed, to which P15 answered that he had seen him armed only sometimes. The Prosecution also raised the question if the witness had seen someone called [redacted name] at Kastana checkpoint, which P15 confirmed. Upon request by the Prosecutor, the witness recollected the appearance of the person. The witness described him as tall with black hair. The Prosecution then asked the witness about [redacted name] and which responsibilities he had. P15 explained that [redacted name] was under the direct leadership of [redacted name].
[10 - minutes - break]
After a short break, the Defense Team started questioning the witness. It asked about the exact route taken by the witness to get from Syria to Germany. A discussion unfolded because the witness could not remember the exact years he had been in Turkey. Defense Counsel Moschref complained that the witness could not specifically remember these dates but that he gave dates when and where he had allegedly seen the Accused. The Defense Counsel subsequently questioned the witness as to why he did not go to the police after having seen the Accused. In response, the witness explained that he had not seen Ahmad H. kill anyone and therefore did not think of him as a war criminal.
Counsel Moschref also asked the witness whether he would not be scared for his family in Syria, to which the witness said: "Yes, I actually wanted to ask the Judge this. Had I known that I would be sitting in front of the Accused I would not have testified. What if he calls someone and denounces my brother?" The Judge to whom the question was directed replied that the Accused was in detention and that he would not be able to contact anyone from there.
A discussion followed in which the Defense Counsels and the witness argued over how many times exactly P15 had actually seen Ahmad H. within one year. The Counsel asked him to compare it to the number of times P15 had given the police during his questioning. After a while, the witness got very distressed and told the Judge: "Does this lawyer [referring to Defense Counsel Schaper] have something against me? I do not feel comfortable in his presence, look how he looks at me! He has a hostile attitude! He is making me nervous!". The Judge answered that he was not in the position to tell the Counsel how to look at someone and advised P15 to not take it personally. Upon this, Defense Counsel Moshref said, "My colleague is making you nervous but when you sit in front of a war criminal on the tram you do not get nervous?" The witness reiterated that at that point Ahmad H. had not been formally accused of anything yet and had mistaken P15 for someone else.
The witness was then dismissed, and the session ended early.
The proceedings were adjourned at 11:00AM.
The next trial day will be on September 4, 2024, at 9:00AM.
Day 18 – September 4, 2024
On this trial day, a new witness testified in court, [redacted name], P16. He said that he lived in [redacted location] and worked as a [redacted information]. P16 was born in Syria and lived in [redacted location] until [redacted time]. During 2012-2013, he went to Egypt to find work but was not able to find any, so he had to return to Syria. The Judge asked P16 what kind of work he was doing at that time and P16 explained that he owned a vegetable shop located between two checkpoints: Kastana and Baraka.
The Judge asked P16 whether he knew Ahmad H., which P16 confirmed. The witness explained that he had met the Accused during the war and that Ahmad H. was working for the NDF at the time. The witness testified that the Accused came into his shop on several occasions and took some of the vegetables and fruit without paying. The witness explained that he thought of the Accused as his friend and was disappointed by him. When the Judge asked what the witness meant by that P16 recounted a situation in which Ahmad H. had helped him. That time, a woman sat in front of P16's shop and talked badly about the regime. An NDF member called "[redacted name]" thought that P16 knew the woman and took P16 with him as a "witness". Ahmad H. had somehow learned about the incident and came to get P16. The witness explained that this action had been necessary because once one was taken by the NDF it was unclear whether one would come back.
P16 also testified that many other members of the NDF came into his shop and took products without paying and mentioned a few names of such members. According to P16, they sometimes sent women to do the job for them. Upon further inquiry, he mentioned a person called "[redacted name]" and "[redacted name]." P16 pointed out multiple times during his testimony that in comparison to everyone else (i.e. other NDF members), Ahmad H. took very little from him.
After naming these people, P16 raised that he was worried about the safety of his family in Syria. The Judge asked P16 whether his fear had any impact on his testimony in court today. The witness denied. The Judge then referred to a police questioning where P16 was shown a photo of Ahmad H. According to the police transcript, P16 turned the photo upside down and said, "I do not want to see this face". P16 explained that he had felt triggered by the photo at the time as it had made him remember the events in Syria.
The Judge was further interested under which name the witness knew Ahmad H. P16 explained that he knew him as "Abu Haider Trucks" and further remembered that people knew him under that name because of the yellow excavator he was driving. The witness recounted having seen the Accused drive by a couple of times in the excavator. The witness also testified to having seen the Accused once stopping people on the street to take them away, allegedly to undertake forced labor. P16 also recalled having witnessed many occasions in which NDF members more generally stopped people on the street or stopped minibuses, took people's ID away, and loaded people on vehicles.
When asked by the Judge whether Ahmad H. had ever taken money from P16, the witness explained that the Accused once took 50.000 pounds [approx. 500 USD at the time] from him because he needed to leave Syria. P16 said that officially he "lent" Ahmad H. the money but also felt compelled to do so. Hence, the witness concluded, not out of free will. The witness also testified that Ahmad H. contacted P16 when he [the Accused] was in Lebanon [after having left Syria] and told P16 to come with him, that he would take him to the EU. Despite P16's secret plans to leave Syria, he told Ahmad H. that he did not have the money to leave.
The Judge asked the witness whether the Accused had revealed information to him concerning the reason for why he wanted to leave Syria. P16 recalled that Ahmad H. told him something along the lines of: "What happens here (in Syria) is wrong and not fair. I cannot stay here if I want to get out of the NDF. One cannot resign from the NDF, one has to flee."
In the midst of the questioning by the Judge, the Accused voiced that the blood flow to his heart was not working properly. The Judge then deliberated whether to take a break or postpone the session. The Judges and Prosecution seemed visibly annoyed by this. The Prosecution said that last time the medical tests showed that there was nothing physically wrong with the Accused. Defense Counsel Moschref then argued that the symptoms of the Accused were rather psychosomatic. The Judge decided to have a break for an hour in order for the Accused to see a doctor.
***
[60 - minutes - break]
***
After the break ended, the Judge noted that once more, the doctors found nothing to be physically wrong with the Accused. The Prosecution protested and said that these were attempts by the Accused to delay the process and that in order for this not to happen every time, a medical test should be undertaken every morning before the session started. The Judge replied that this did not make sense considering the symptoms of the Accused always appeared randomly throughout the day. The Defense Counsel then protested in turn and demanded a psychiatrist to examine the Accused. The Judge interrupted the discussion and said that he first wanted to finish the questioning of the witness.
The Prosecution informed the witness that the Accused was currently in detention before starting its questioning. The Prosecution recalled that the witness had met several Shabiha members and asked P16 whether Ahmad H. was one of the "worse ones" or "better ones." P16 reiterated multiple times that Ahmad H. never did anything "bad" to him and that all other NDF members were much worse than the Accused. After this, the Prosecution confronted the witness with several names and asked whether P16 knew these individuals. P16 mentioned “[redacted name]” and “[redacted name].” The first one belonged to the NDF, P16 explained, and the other one to the Intelligence Services Branch.
Following this, the Prosecution asked about whether P16 saw Ahmad H. carrying any weapons. The witness recalled a "pistol", but was uncertain whether it was in fact a Kalashnikov. When asked how many times the Accused came to P16's shop, he testified that Ahmad H. came every day, but did not take something every time he came into the shop.
Lastly, the Defense Counsel started their questioning and asked the witness whether it was possible that he projected his fear of other NDF members onto the Accused when he saw that photo of him during his police interview. The witness confirmed that it might be possible. Counsel Moschref was interested in how taxes were paid in Syria generally, and how they were paid by the witness during the time in question. The Judge looked visibly confused by these questions.
Counsel Moschref also inquired about the time Ahmad H. came to get P16, referring to the time when P16 was taken as a "witness" by the NDF. The Defense wanted to know whether it could be that the Accused was grateful to P16 for being able to take products without paying and that this might be why he came to help the witness in that particular situation. The Prosecution intervened and argued that this should be a discussion of facts, not opinions. Defense Counsel Moshref then told the witness that he would like to inform him that Ahmad H. considered him a friend and valued his friendship. It remained unclear whether the Counsel spoke on behalf of the Accused on his own initiative or whether Ahmad H. had in fact told the Counsel to bring this up.
The next part of the questioning revolved around yesterday’s witness, P15. Defense Counsel Moschref pointed out that P15 knew P16 and thus the Counsel wanted to know whether P15 had told P16 about the encounter with Ahmed H. on the tram in [redacted location]. The witness confirmed that P15 had told him about meeting H. However, the witness added that he did not believe P15 since at that time, Ahmed H. had told P16 that he wanted to flee to Sweden and not to Germany.
Before dismissing the witness, the previous discussion about Ahmad H.’s health was revisited by Defense Counsel Moschref. He argued for Ahmad H. to receive a psychiatric visit and explained that the Accused suffered from an anxiety disorder and panic attacks which could be treated with pharmaceuticals. Moschref also claimed that everyone would benefit from Ahmad H. being prescribed medication as it might help with the symptoms and avoid further interruptions. The Counsel eventually pointed out that Ahmad H. has been in solitary confinement [German: “Einzelhaft” according to Section 89 ACT ON THE EXECUTION OF PRISON SENTENCES AND MEASURES OF REFORM AND PREVENTION INVOLVING DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY (Prison Act)] for eight months, which would also explain his mental health condition. The Judge said he acknowledged the proposition and would think about it.
The proceedings were adjourned at 1:00PM.
The next trial day will be on September 10, 2024, at 9:00AM.
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