Swedish court acquits former Syrian army general accused of involvement in war crimes – NewsNation

JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press

13 mins ago

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) —

A Swedish court on Thursday acquitted a former Syrian army general who was accused of involvement in war crimes in his home country more than a decade ago.

Brigadier General Mohammed Hamo, who now lives in Sweden, was charged in February with aiding and abetting crimes against international law. Prosecutors said that as head of the weapons department of the Syrian army’s 11th Division, he was responsible for supplying the weapons used to commit war crimes in 2012.

Swedish news agency TT said Hamo was the highest-ranking military officer ever to be indicted in a European court for international human rights violations in Syria, which has been ravaged by civil war for over 13 years.

Little is known about Hamo, 65. In June 2012, he was transferred to northern Syria, and the following month he decided to leave the army and flee to Turkey, where he joined a group fighting against the Syrian regime.

In 2015, he travelled to Sweden to apply for asylum. He was granted asylum, but the Swedish immigration service informed the government that Hamo had previously been “a high-ranking officer in an army that was systematically believed to have committed human rights abuses.”

Hamo was living in central Sweden when he was arrested on December 7, 2021. A court at the time released him two days later, saying there was insufficient evidence to keep him in custody. He has since been released.

Unrest in Syria between Assad’s regime and opposition groups began in March 2011 and later escalated into a civil war that left nearly half a million people dead and forced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million to flee.

The trial at Stockholm District Court began on April 15. The last court session took place on May 21.