France investigates Syrian officials for torture & murder of family

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The four-day hearings from Tuesday are expected to air chilling allegations that President Bashar Assad’s government has widely used torture and arbitrary detentions to keep power during the conflict, now in its 14th year.

The French trial comes as Assad has been regaining an aura of international respectability, starting to shed his long-time status as a pariah that flowed from the violence unleashed on his opponents. Human rights groups that are parties to the French case hope it will refocus attention on alleged atrocities.

Here’s a look at those involved:

THE ACCUSED

Ali Mamlouk, former head of the National Security Bureau overseeing Syrian security and intelligence services. Allegedly worked directly with Assad. Now in his late 70s.

Jamil Hassan, former Air Force intelligence director. Survivors testifying in the case allege having seen him at a detention center in the capital,
Damascus, where the Dabbaghs are thought to have been held. In his early 70s.

Salam Mahmoud, in his mid-60s, a former investigations official at a Damascus military airport believed to house the detention center. Mahmoud is alleged to have expropriated the Dabbaghs’ house after they were taken away.