July 19, 2021 06:52:11 pm
The District Court of The Hague convicted Friday Ahmad al Kehdr, a Syrian refugee and former member of the Syrian military, of war crimes and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
The court possessed video evidence of Al Khedr participating in the execution of a Syrian government official in 2012. Presiding Judge Jan van Steen noted that the execution took place in a country where a “non-international armed conflict” was in progress, deserving careful scrutiny.
Al Khedr was prosecuted under universal jurisdiction law, which authorizes the Netherlands to pursue charges against people for genocide, war crimes, and human rights violations even if the crime took place elsewhere in the world.