Man, 58, charged with crimes against humanity by the Met after 'murdering and torturing Syrian protesters in 2011'

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A man has been charged with crimes against humanity that were allegedly committed in Syria as part of widespread attacks on civilians in 2011.

A 58-year-old man was served a Postal Charge Requisition by the Metropolitan Police in relation to his time working in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence in Damascus.

The charges include three counts of murder as a crime against humanity (CAH), three counts of torture, and one offence of conduct ancillary to murder as a CAH.

The man allegedly led a group to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations in the Jobar area, a suburb in the east of Damascus's centre, at the start of what became the Syrian civil war. 

Commander Helen Flanagan, who leads CTP London, said 'the charges are extremely serious and show that we fully support the UK's "no safe haven" policy in relation alleged war criminals'. 

It is considered the first prosecution of its kind in the UK where the Crown Prosecution Service has brough charges of murder as CAH. 

A CAH is applied when the attack is part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population and is done with knowledge. 

He is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 10 March. His name has not been disclosed as his lawyers intended to seek ​a reporting restriction.  

Protesters shout slogans and carry placards during a protest organised by Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon in 2011, to express solidarity with Syria's anti-government protesters

The 'complex and challenging' investigation was carried out by Counter Terrorism Policing's War Crimes Team and cooperated with several international partners. 

The War Crimes Team began investigating the 58-year-old after they received a referral in November 2020 containing allegations that the man had been a member of the Syrian armed forces during the early 2010s.

A year later, Met officers belonging to the War Crimes Team visited an address in Buckinghamshire where a man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of being involved in crimes against humanity and a search was also carried out at the address.

The man was then released on bail but later charged with crimes against humanity after further enquiries were carried out.

Syria's conflict started amid uprisings against dictators in the Middle East known as the 2011 Arab Spring, as Assad crushed what were largely peaceful protests.

It quickly escalated into a full-blown civil war after a brutal regime crackdown. 

More than half a million people have been killed and more than five million left the country as refugees. 

In December 2024, rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took control of the country and brought the Assad regime's 54-year rule was brought to an end after launching an offensive in Syria's largest cities.

Syrian children carry pictures of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib in front of the United Nations building in Beirut, 2011 - activists say he was tortured and killed by security forces

After the fall of Assad's regime in 2024, horrifying images emerged of the conditions prisoners were held in Sednaya Military Prison

Both Assad and his father Hafez, who preceded him as president and died in 2000, have long been accused by rights groups and governments of widespread extrajudicial killings, including mass executions within the country's prison system and using chemical weapons against the Syrian people.

Assad had repeatedly denied that his government committed human rights violations and painted his detractors as extremists.

The head of US-based Syrian advocacy organisation the Syrian Emergency Task Force, Mouaz Moustafa, who also visited Qutayfah, 25 miles (40 km) north of Damascus, has estimated at least 100,000 bodies were buried there alone.

The International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague separately said it had received data indicating there may be as many as 66, as yet unverified, mass grave sites in Syria.

More than 150,000 people are considered missing, according to international and Syrian organisations, including the United Nations and the Syrian Network for Human Rights, it said.

Commander Flanagan said: 'This has been an incredibly complex and challenging investigation, involving enquiries across many countries.

'This has required close cooperation with a number of international partners, as well as our colleagues in the CPS.

'The charges are extremely serious and show that we fully support the UK's 'no safe haven' policy in relation alleged war criminals.

'Where we are presented with allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity that fall within our jurisdiction, then, as we have shown here, we will not hesitate to investigate those rigorously and robustly.'

Bethan David, Head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Counter Terrorism Division, said: 'We have determined that a 58-year-old man should be prosecuted with charges of murder as a crime against humanity and torture.

'Our prosecutors have concluded that there is sufficient evidence to bring seven offences under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

'We have worked closely with the War Crimes Team at the Metropolitan Police Service as they carried out their investigation.

'As always, we remind all concerned that proceedings against this defendant are active and that he has a right to a fair trial.

'It is vital that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.'

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