File photograph: Anti-government protest in Homs, Syria, 2011.
A former colonel in Syria’s Air Force Intelligence has appeared before a London court charged with crimes against humanity, in what prosecutors say is the first case of its kind brought under British law.
Salem Michel Al-Salem, 58, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video link. He has now been publicly named after a request from his legal team to prevent identification was rejected.
The Syrian national faces seven charges relating to alleged events in Damascus in 2011 and 2012, during the early stages of the Syrian uprising.
The charges include three counts of murder as a crime against humanity, one count of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity and three counts of torture. According to prosecutors, the allegations relate in part to a demonstration held on 22 April 2011 in Damascus, when protesters calling for prisoners to be released were allegedly shot dead.
Al-Salem is accused of being responsible for killing Omar Al-Homsi and Nizar Fayoumi-AlKhatib, or causing them to be killed “as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population”.
He is also accused of engaging in conduct “ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity” in relation to the death of Mohammed Salim Zahrak Balik on the same day.
Another charge concerns events in July 2011, when he is accused of being responsible for killing Talhat Dalal, or causing him to be killed as part of a widespread attack against civilians. In addition, Al-Salem faces three charges of torture relating to alleged abuse of Mohammed Al-Hakim, Hani Dahrouj and Ziauddin Mahammed Tayseer Dahrouj between August 2011 and March 2012.
The court heard that Al-Salem, who now lives in Buckinghamshire, appeared from his home by video link. He remained seated throughout the hearing and wore what appeared to be an oxygen mask and breathing apparatus.
His lawyer told the court that he suffers from spinal onset motor neurone disease and was too unwell to confirm his name during the proceedings.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring rejected an application from the defence to withhold the defendant’s identity from the public.
He ruled that the possibility that naming him might “rise in people strong feelings of hostility and concern is not, and never has been, sufficient for the principle of open justice to be derogated”.
Goldspring said it was important that the defendant be named in order to maintain public confidence in the justice system.
Al-Salem was arrested in central England in December 2021 following an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing London’s war crimes unit. The investigation involved inquiries across several countries, with witnesses interviewed in multiple European states.
Authorities have described the case as “an incredibly complex and challenging investigation”.
The charges have been brought under the International Criminal Court Act 2001, which allows British courts to prosecute serious international crimes committed outside the United Kingdom.
The Crown Prosecution Service has stated that this is the first time charges of murder as crimes against humanity have been brought under the legislation.
The case is also believed to be the first prosecution in the United Kingdom involving a person alleged to have served in former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces in connection with crimes linked to the Syrian civil war.
Al-Salem has not yet entered pleas to the charges.
He was granted conditional bail and is scheduled to appear next at the Old Bailey in London on Friday.
See more from the BBC here, Reuters here, and Sky News here.