Germany Supports Life Imprisonment for Syrian «Ammar Al-Mazraani» for War Crimes - Sarmad

The German Federal Constitutional Court upheld a life imprisonment sentence for Syrian national Ammar Al-Mazraani, who was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against civilians in the city of Bosra al-Sham in the Daraa countryside.

Details of the case against Al-Mazraani indicate that he committed these crimes while leading an armed faction linked to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and supportive of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

The Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart had initially handed down the life sentence in June 2025, following a trial that lasted 42 sessions and relied on the testimonies of approximately 30 individuals. Al-Mazraani, 33, was found guilty of violations including the killing and torture of civilians and the forced displacement of residents.

According to the case facts, members of the faction beat three civilians with Kalashnikov rifles in 2013 before handing them over to the military intelligence agency of the former regime, where they were subjected to torture and detained in harsh conditions. Al-Mazraani was also convicted in a separate incident in 2014 for forcing a man and his family members to leave their home, after which the man was tortured.

The confirmation of the sentence comes as part of Germany’s application of the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows its courts to prosecute perpetrators of serious international crimes, even if the crimes occurred outside German territory. The case is among the most prominent trials related to violations of the Syrian conflict before European courts.