Inside the Alaa M. Trial #100: Miles Apart but Close to the Heart

TRIAL OF ALAA M.

Higher Regional Court – Frankfurt, Germany

Trial Monitoring Summary #100

Hearing Date: March 13, 2025

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 continues to provide a summary of the proceedings while redacting certain details to protect witness privacy and to preserve the integrity of the trial.]

SJAC’s 100th trial monitoring report details day 179 of the trial of Alaa M. in Frankfurt, Germany. The Court confirmed that [redacted name] refuses to testify due to security fears for his family, despite offers for remote questioning. An audio recording of [redacted name] was played, where he described working at a military hospital in Homs alongside the Accused and witnessing torture, systematic abuse, and denial of medical care to detainees believed to be opposition members. [Redacted name] named several torturers, including doctors [redacted name] and the [redacted name] cousins, and accused the chief physician [redacted name] [note: name not fully clear] of covering up torture.

Linguistic experts clarified medical terms and translated key documents, revealing sectarian tensions within the hospital and detailing descriptions of hospital structure and personnel. An anonymous witness described detainees shackled and blindfolded in hospital rooms, abuse by hospital staff, and the suspicious handling of corpses during a United Nations (UN) visit. The Court also reviewed social media chats and questioning transcripts, shedding light on internal hospital dynamics and sectarian threats originating from the Alawite staff.

Day 179 – March 13, 2025

At the beginning of the session, the Presiding Judge read out a decision of the Court regarding the transcript of [redacted name]’s questioning at court in [redacted location] which was to be translated by the [redacted information] linguistic expert.

Despite repeated efforts by the Court in Frankfurt am Main to establish contact and its express wish for [redacted name] to testify, it has been definitively determined that he was not willing to testify. As part of an inquiry, Public Prosecutor Schlepp, together with an officer from the BKA's witness service and an interpreter, contacted [redacted name] via a WhatsApp call.

[Redacted name], however, expressed great concerns due to the possible threat to his family. Nevertheless, the Court considered his testimony crucial for establishing the truth deeming online questioning permissible and offered it to [redacted name]. The session was briefly and coincidentally interrupted twice by a nationwide emergency drill alert on the cell phones of the key participants while the voice messages were played.

One reason for [redacted name]’s refusal to testify was the tense political situation between the [redacted information] government and Syrian refugees. The following audio file from [redacted name] was played: “I am surprised that people in Germany are so insistent. I am not willing to testify anywhere in the world. I have other things that are weighing heavily on my mind. I finally want to be left alone.”  Meanwhile, the trial monitor observed that the Accused closed his eyes, appeared very exhausted and folded his hands as if in prayer – less in a religious sense, and more reflecting how much he still has to endure. The Presiding Judge pointed out that the taking of evidence could probably be completed in a few weeks. Waiting any longer for a testimony from [redacted name] or the scheduling of a new hearing would mean an interruption of the previous taking of evidence and the main hearing.

Ms. [redacted name], the linguistic expert, then began translating [redacted name]’s personal information from the protocol into German, reporting that [redacted name] is a [redacted information]. She continued with [redacted name]'s testimony before the [redacted information] court about his experiences in the hospital where, according to him, almost everyone tortured and where the Accused also worked. “I know the Accused. We worked in the same hospital between 2011 and 2012,” he explained. He recalled a case involving a patient with a broken hip. The Accused later bragged that he had operated on him without anesthesia at the 608 Military Hospital in Homs. [Redacted name] also mentioned his [redacted time] television appearance on al-Jazeera, where he reported on the events, and also mentioned that he knew P52, who is a distant relative of his father and was also a soldier. At the end of the voice message, [redacted name] said that he could no longer stand working in the hospital.

[Redacted name] named several torturers who had already been mentioned in previous sessions, including doctors [redacted name] and the [redacted name] cousins. He recalled that they generally refused to treat wounded people believed to be members of the Free Syrian Army. He also explained: "The dead were given numbers so that the families would not be notified." Following his [redacted information], several complaints were filed. [Redacted name] accused the then chief physician, [redacted name], of actively contributing to the cover-up of the torture.

In response to Judge Rhode's question, linguistic expert [redacted name] confirmed that the term “shortness of breath” in the specific case actually referred to suffocation (asphyxia) not cardiovascular failure. Rhode had referred to a previously translated statement concerning a person who had died of shortness of breath after being transferred to the operating room.

[27-minute break]

Ms. [redacted name] was dismissed without being sworn in, and the proceeding continued with the questioning of linguistic expert Farrag, who had translated the Accused’s Facebook chats. The reading started with the chat between [redacted name], P54, and the Accused’s uncle, [redacted name].

At the beginning of the proceedings, a chat history between P54 and the Accused’s uncle  was reviewed, discussing health problems the Accused suffered from in 2012 during his work at Hospital 601 in al-Mazzeh. The uncle, [redacted name], mentioned a leg injury, calcium deficiency, and said: "He's never done much sport. We used to say he has a heavy ass."

His specialist training in Homs and his work in orthopedics were also discussed.  P54 addressed a TV report in which he said someone from the [redacted name] family [redacted name] testified about Alaa, the uncle, [redacted name], responded by saying, “These are all lies and presumptions,” and later added, “He would never do such a thing, and you know how we are.”

30 days later, the Accused’s father wrote to P54: "My dearest, please delete the chat. They might summon you for Alaa." P54 replied: "Don't worry, I'll delete it. But you're scaring me that there's something." The Presiding Judge asked Mr. Farrag in relation to another conversation between the two, in which Alaa M.’s uncle invited P54 with the words: “If you come [to Syria], let me see you,” whether this sentence was just an empty phrase or carried any informational content, e.g. a hidden threat, as the Presiding Judge put it: “Come over, to Syria!” Mr. Farrag said he could not clearly identify whether it was a threat, but if it was, it would have been a hidden one.

Subsequently, an interview record conducted by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) [redacted information] was examined. All personal data and contact details of the witness were redacted. The witness, [likely P15], was a urologist with specialist training in Hospital 608, Homs. The transcript, translated into German by Mr. Farrag and reviewed during the session, included, among other things, the following information:

At the beginning, the interviewer thanked the witness, introduced him to those present, and explained that CIJA was collecting information and evidence. The organization’s activities were related to Iraq and Kurdistan. The witness was informed that he could be summoned as a witness in court in the future and, if necessary, could remain anonymous. He was also asked whether he had any security concerns.

The witness was a graduate of human medicine at the University of Aleppo (year redacted in the transcript), his specialist training began in 2007 and ended in March 2012. During the interview, the witness shared information about the Abdelkader Ash-Shaqfa Hospital (عبد القادر الشقفة) [Homs Military Hospital] and provided a detailed account of its medical staff and institutional structures.

The chief physician was Alawite, the deputy chief physician a Sunni. Head of the emergency room was Brigadier General [redacted name], head of pathology was [redacted name], head of orthopedics was the Alawite Brigadier General [redacted name], head of general surgery was an Alawite Brigadier General from Homs, head of the burn unit was Christian and Brigadier General

[redacted name], head of gastroenterology

[redacted name], Christian and successor [redacted name], the head of dermatology was a Sunni Brigadier General from Homs.

In several departments - including neurology, anesthesiology, ear, nose and throat ENT, ophthalmology, maxillofacial surgery, pediatrics, and general surgery - the department heads were all Alawites and brigadier generals. These units had a distinctly military character, particularly in terms of discipline, food service, and the vehicle fleet. The military police station was headed by non-commissioned Officer [redacted name], an Alawite. The witness also named additional doctors with military degrees: Brigadier General and Doctor [redacted name] (Alawite), Captain and General Surgeon [redacted name] (Alawite), Conscript First Lieutenant and Doctor [redacted name] (Shiite), another Conscript First Lieutenant and Doctor [redacted name] (Alawite from Latakia). In addition, he also mentioned the names of civilian doctors, including the two cousins [redacted name] and of course Alaa M., Christian.

According to the record, the witness also reported about the hospital and its departments: "Several buildings form complexes within a wall, there are guards at every entrance. Basement: restaurant, hairdresser, cafeteria, operating rooms. Second floor, upper floor: general surgery and room for detainees (shackled to beds with iron chains, sometimes blindfolded). Second and third floors: intensive care units. Fourth floor: ENT, ophthalmology, heart surgery and recreation room for doctors. There were also outbuildings: the outpatient department, helipad, doctors' accommodation, administration building, and an open area with trees."

Mr. Farrag illustrated the location of the relevant places using a sketch from the protocol. The anonymous witness then described the events in chronological order: At the beginning of the protests, mainly slightly injured members of the police and security forces were admitted – for example, with injuries caused by stones. A short time later, demonstrators with gunshot wounds also arrived; according to the security forces, a third party had allegedly fired at them. The witness also reported an incident in which an injured demonstrator was treated by doctor [redacted name] without anesthesia and was called a terrorist. The witness himself was in the operating room at the time.

As the situation in Homs escalated, tensions in the hospital also increased: members of the Alawite cadre repeatedly confronted their Sunni colleagues with sectarian insults. During the initial treatment of the wounded after attacks on various parts of the city, there was an increase in assaults. On several occasions, members of the Alawite cadre had beaten, insulted, or in some cases, beaten injured people to death in the emergency room.

After the storming of the city of ar-Rastan, an injured demonstrator was admitted to the hospital. According to the witness, [redacted information], the patient was brutally abused by hospital staff in the treatment room while security guards stood outside the door. The witness recalled the individuals involved – the cousins [redacted name] and the Accused – who left a large pool of blood in the room after leaving the operating room. He had previously heard the injured man's screams, which subsided after a while. The witness was occasionally called in by security forces for medical assessment. In one case, he saw a severely injured man who was dying. The witness was told by the Security Guard [redacted name] that this man had been arrested for allegedly killing a girl in the city of ar-Rastan. According to the witness, the confession was likely forced under torture. He had no knowledge of the detainee's further fate.

According to the witness, [redacted name] was responsible for specifically assigning particularly hateful, sectarian Alawite doctors to work in the emergency room. In addition, the witness had repeatedly observed a brigadier general beating detainees with electric cables.

In the hope of making a difference — as open criticism was life-threatening — the witness pointed out to a security officer that the prisoners had relatives who would report the abuse, which could damage the reputation of the hospital and the doctors treating them. However, the officer repeatedly responded by claiming that there was no torture and made it clear to the witness that he would be better off keeping quiet and focusing on his work.

Furthermore, the witness described an event from 2012 in which four to five refrigerated trucks arrived carrying the corpses of men, elderly people, women, and children. The smell of the bodies spread so strongly throughout the entire hospital area that the witness and his colleagues kept the windows closed. The corpses were individually laid out on mattresses outside, photographed, and then placed in body bags. This occurred at a time when a UN Human Rights Commission was scheduled to visit Syria. The bodies from the Baba Amr region were later taken away and disposed of by the regime; the Commission's visit was postponed by one week.

Following the evaluation of the translated transcript of the anonymous witness by the Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA Sachsen) and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), two reports were read out concerning a SyriaTV video and an al-Jazeera video [redacted information]:

• A SyriaTV video published on March 24, 2020 titled "Germany and the Executioner Doctor: A Witness Describes His Atrocities in Homs" (ألمانيا والطبيب الجلاد: شاهد عيان يروي فظائعه في حمص)
• An al-Jazeera video dated May 19, 2020

The linguistic expert Farrag was dismissed without being sworn in.

The proceedings were adjourned at 12:32 PM.

The next trial day will be on March 20, 10 AM.

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