New Case in Austria: Suspect was Involved in the Persecution of Ezidis

Friday, 14th February 2025

A 39-year-old Syrian man is accused of having fought for the so-called Islamic State (IS) in his home country before fleeing to Europe. He is also suspected of having held Ezidi prisoners in his business. The defendant pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer, Michael Drexler, argued that the wrong person had been charged. The man arrived in Austria in 2019 and was granted asylum in 2020. According to his lawyer, authorities had thoroughly examined his background and found no evidence linking him to IS.

His tral was held today, 14th Februari 2025, at the Vienna Regional Court but has been postponed to April 2, 2025 to allow for more evidence to be presented.

Investigation Triggered by German Authorities

In 2023, Austrian security services received information from Germany suggesting the father of six may have been involved in war crimes in Syria. During an ongoing German investigation into suspected IS members, a propaganda video surfaced showing armed men on a truck. One of them, shouting an IS slogan, was identified by the prosecution as the defendant.

A German police officer presented additional evidence in court, including a Facebook profile that allegedly belonged to the accused. The officer claimed the account’s posts demonstrated at least some sympathy for IS. However, the defendant denied any connection, stating he did not appear in the images.

In court, a video featuring battle scenes, military vehicles, and armed conflict was played. The footage ended with a prisoner on a truck being turned toward the camera by an IS fighter, followed by another man proclaiming in Arabic: “This is the religion! The religion of Allah! We are victorious!”

Facial Recognition Analysis and Witness Testimonies

The prosecution commissioned a biometric facial recognition report, which concluded there was an 83.48% probability that the man in the video was the defendant. The prosecutor dismissed the defendant’s denial as “completely implausible” and stated that additional witnesses had also identified him.

A forensic expert testified that the analysis was highly reliable, given the video’s high resolution. He explained that biometric comparisons use facial ratios rather than absolute distances to account for lens distortions. The analysis, using a dataset of other individuals to rule out lookalikes, produced a similarity coefficient of approximately 84%, which he described as “an almost perfect match.”

Before the trial, the defendant had been shown multiple photographs, including one from an official document. He claimed he was not in any of them.

Key Witnesses From Germany Absent in Vienna Trial

Three witnesses from Germany, whose testimonies were key to the charges, were not present in the Vienna trial. One had returned to Syria, while another anonymous witness and a third who had revealed his identity declined to travel to Austria.

The defense presented three witnesses from the defendant’s home village, all residing in Austria. Two of them argued that the man in the video had longer hair than the defendant, whom they had only seen with short hair. One of these witnesses had initially identified the defendant in the video but later retracted his statement, saying, “He resembles him, but it is not him.” The third witness was unsure whether the person in the footage was the defendant.

Defense Claims False Accusations Due to Personal Rivalries

The defendant claimed that the allegations were fabricated by fellow Syrians due to long-standing family disputes. His lawyer, Michael Drexler, argued that similar accusations were initially made against the defendant’s brother in Germany out of jealousy over his successful restaurant business. When those claims fell apart, the focus shifted to the defendant.

Drexler also contended that the defendant’s shop in Syria was too small to have housed captives and lacked any screens to play IS propaganda. He dismissed the facial recognition analysis, saying, “It is obvious to the naked eye that my client is not the man holding a machine gun on a truck.”

Charges of Terrorist Association and Criminal Organization

The prosecution accused the defendant of participating in IS combat operations in Syria in 2014 and of involvement in the persecution of Ezidis. He is suspected of having helped transport prisoners and of using his business—first a barbershop, later a mobile phone store—to detain Ezidi captives.

Additionally, he played IS propaganda videos in his shop and recruited young men for the group. According to the prosecution, he was also responsible for welcoming foreign IS fighters arriving from Europe and facilitating their transfer to training camps.

The Ezidi people, an ethnic and religious group, were among IS’s primary victims. In August 2014, IS massacred between 5,000 and 10,000 Ezidis in the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar, a crime the United Nations has classified as genocide.

The trial was postponed to April 2, 2025 to allow for a new forensic report analyzing whether the defendant’s voice matches that of the man in the IS video.