<span style="color: #222222;">In Germany, a court has sentenced a former Syrian intelligence officer to four-and-a-half years in jail today for complicity in crimes against humanity.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The 44-year-old Eyad A. is accused of rounding up people following anti-government demonstrations in the Syrian city of Douma in 2011 and delivering them to a detention center where they were tortured.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">It is the first ever trial over alleged atrocities committed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Eyad A. defected in 2012 and fled Syria a year later. He arrived in Germany in 2018 where he was recognized by his alleged victims, several of whom had come to Germany as refugees.<br />''</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He was arrested in 2019, along with a more senior ex-Syrian official, who is also on trial in Germany<b>.</b></span><br />''