German court rejects a former Syrian secret police officer’s appeal against his conviction

BERLIN (AP) — A German federal court says it has rejected a former Syrian secret police officer’s appeal against his conviction for overseeing the abuse of detainees at a jail in his homeland. Anwar Raslan was convicted of crimes against humanity by a court in the western German city of Koblenz in January 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison. Judges concluded that the former colonel was in charge of interrogations at a facility known as Al-Khatib, or Branch 251, where suspected opposition protesters were detained. The Federal Court of Justice said Monday it found no “legal error to the detriment of the accused” and rejected “procedural objections.”