ISIS Commander Sentenced To Life In Prison After Removing Head Priest In Syria

JAKARTA - A Hungarian court on Thursday, December 3 local time sentenced a Syrian man to life in prison, convicted of terrorism and crimes against humanity. In 2015, the man carried out beheadings of an imam in Syria.

To quote Arab News, Friday, December 4, the man was an ISIS commander and had to spend at least 30 years behind bars. This is based on a statement from the Budapest Metropolitan Court.

"Its task is to list the deaths of the enemies of Islam," the court statement said.

The man was personally involved in the executions of several people, including the beheading of a tribal leader. The man was identified in local media as 28-year-old F. Hassan. His lawyers say they will appeal the verdict. The court gave a life sentence without parole.

According to prosecutors, the defendant led a small ISIS unit in Homs province in 2015 tasked with terrorizing and executing civilians and religious leaders who refused to side with ISIS. Prosecutors say he personally took part in the beheading of a priest in the city of Al Sukhnah and in the killing of another civilian in the area in May 2015.

His unit also killed at least 25 people in the city including women and children, prosecutors said. Authorities in Malta, Greece and Belgium as well as in Hungary are taking part in the investigation, which is being coordinated by the European judicial cooperation body Eurojust. About 10 witnesses in Belgium and Malta, as well as in Hungary, gave testimony.

The man, who had been granted refugee status in Greece, was detained at Budapest airport in December 2018. He was caught showing fake travel documents for himself and a female travel companion. Prior to his arrival in Hungary, Hassan had visited a number of other European countries, the Hungarian Counter-Terrorism Center said.

Citing the Independent, Hassan left the Syrian army in 2011, then joined ISIS sometime before 2014. He became an ISIS unit commander and actively recruits members. The unit usually goes door to door, pulling and killing people on their list with gunfire or stabbing. The others were forced to gather in the city's main square.

In 2019, his lawyers said that Hassan attempted suicide while in prison. Hassan also claimed he had been persecuted by police and feared poisoning. His defense lawyers also argued that prosecutors' evidence, including tapped phone calls, video footage of the murder and the man's own statement, failed to support the allegations.