An Austrian court on Monday convicted a former Syrian intelligence chief in the city of Raqqa of offences including torture and sexual assault over the mistreatment of opponents of then-leader Bashar al-Assad more than a decade ago, Reuters reported. The court in Vienna sentenced the primary defendant, identified as Khaled al-H, to eight years in prison after more than a dozen victims testified they were beaten, electrocuted or doused in hot and cold water while he was head of the General Intelligence Directorate in Raqqa from 2011 to 2013.
