The German Federal Court brought charges of belonging to a “terrorist organization” against 3 Syrians, whom it said were former members of the Tawhid Brigade in Syria, who had taken refuge in Germany earlier.

The court said in statement The Public Prosecutor’s Office published that it had “sufficient suspicion that the defendants (Muhammad R., Anas. K., and Youssef. K.) were members of the Tawhid Brigade “which inflicted heavy losses on the military bases of Assad’s forces.”

The Federal Public Prosecutor described Liwa al-Tawhid as a “terrorist organization,” even though it is not included in Germany’s list of terrorist organizations. He said that the brigade “seeks to establish a religious state based on Sharia,” and that it “cooperated with the Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar Al-Sham” to carry out terrorist attacks. In the region.”

The plaintiff accused “Muhammad R.” of establishing a battalion within the “Tawhid Brigade” and said that he led it in various military missions. He also accused “Anas K.” of working as a press spokesman and correspondent for the brigade, and claimed that “Youssef K.” worked with him in the media sector. “He regularly accompanied Anas to the camp areas and prepared reports, as well as films and photographs, for propaganda purposes.”

“The basis of the accusation is false.” Syrians deny the validity of the allegation

Syrian media activist Abdul Karim Laila was surprised by that decision, stressing in his talk to Aleppo today that the young men were activists at the local level working with some media agencies, such as Smart and Sham Agency, in civil and revolutionary work, and they were not in the ranks of the Tawhid Brigade, saying that “it is unfortunate that This puts them in the circle of accusation” and that “every Syrian living in the liberated areas is an accused.”

Laila did not rule out the presence of parties linked to the Assad regime that are stirring up the issue inside Germany. “For them, everyone who comes out against them is a terrorist,” and he saw that “pursuing the youth of the revolution” comes within the context of “international normalization with Assad.”

The Syrian activist also criticized the efforts of some legal and human rights bodies “that claim the revolution” to criminalize young men simply because they were living in the liberated areas, stressing that all options are available regarding the reasons for filing a lawsuit against the three young men, including the existence of personal differences.

He described the ruling as invalid, because “it is not permissible for a refugee to be tried in accordance with the criminal law and held accountable for something that happened in another country,” asking, “Who is the plaintiff?”, and “How can the authorities verify something that happened in another country that they cannot access?”

He stressed that the refugee must be tried according to international law and not the criminal law of the state protecting him, in addition to the fact that “the basis of the accusation is false. If it is true that they belong to the Tawhid Brigade – which they are not – then he is one of the factions of the Free Syrian Army that fought terrorism in all its forms.”

Regarding the issue of dealing with the Al-Nusra Front, Laila pointed out that there are many parties that have dealt with it, and assuming that this is true, it is not suitable to be an accusation. He mentioned, for example, that there are many international organizations that deal with Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham and the Salvation Government, in addition to To the Turkish army, noting that this “is not an accusation” if “it is true at all.”

For his part, the director of Shahba Press Agency, Mamoun Abu Omar, told Aleppo Today TV that he knew Anas (who comes from the city of Bayanun in the Aleppo countryside) closely, and that he “does not have an extremist ideology,” and that he was even pursued by the Al-Nusra Front at the beginning of the revolutionary movement. In Syria, its members kidnapped him and threatened him more than once. He also explained that this was the reason behind him being one of the veteran activists who left Syria.

Abu Omar pointed out that Anas was a local journalist who worked in his region before participating in Shahba Press Agency since its founding, where he “initially covered the peaceful movement, and when the revolution armed, he covered the battles without carrying a weapon.”

A source close to Anas told Aleppo today that he left Syria in the middle of the last decade, and that he did not carry any ideology, nor did he participate in any battle.

For his part, “Y.A,” a member of the media office in Liwa al-Tawhid, said that Youssef was in his twenties during that period, and he was accompanying his brother Anas in working as media professionals, where they were active in civil media and photographing the bombings and massacres of the Assad regime.

He added that Anas was working with Smart Agency and Shahba Press, two local Syrian agencies that provide material about bombings and humanitarian stories. He was also covering military operations between the Free Army and the Assad regime, and between the Free Army and ISIS.

The German move was met with dissatisfaction by many Syrian activists, journalists, and human rights defenders. Syrian journalist Ghassan Yassin said that the efforts of what he called “human rights shops” led to “the classification of the military forces of the revolution as terrorist organizations,” and “the criminalization of everyone who carried weapons in the face of the Syrian regime.” He considered that this was “a dream that Assad had.”

“If the revolution does not win, the revolutionaries will be persecuted.”

Abdul-Jabbar al-Aqidi, a dissident colonel from the Assad regime and former founder and commander of the Revolutionary Military Council in Aleppo, told Aleppo Today that Liwa al-Tawhid is one of the most important and largest factions and formations of the Free Army that were formed since the beginning of the Syrian revolution’s shift to military action in order to protect demonstrators and confront sectarian militias.

He explained that he was part of the Military Council in Aleppo and part of the Chief of Staff that was formed at the end of 2012, and that the former commander of the brigade, the martyr Abdul Qadir al-Saleh, was deputy commander of the Northern Front in the Chief of Staff.

As for cooperation with Al-Nusra Front, Al-Aqidi confirmed that all the factions that were present on the Syrian scene dealt with Al-Nusra Front in the beginning, and even with ISIS, when they were one faction, and even when they separated in the spring of 2013, dealing with each of them continued. Until late 2013, everyone was on close fronts and dealing with each other was a fait accompli in Aleppo and other Syrian governorates.

He pointed out that there are “human rights organizations and people who claim to pursue terrorists and everyone who committed crimes against the Syrian people, as they say, but they are affiliated with Assad’s authority,” considering that this is a result of the change in the political and military reality on the ground after the Russian intervention, the increase in the influence of Iranian militias, the decline in the influence of the Free Army, the Astana understandings, and attempts at regional normalization. Arab and the lax positions of international countries.

Al-Aqidi added, saying: “This is normal. If the revolution does not win, the revolutionaries, and even the civilians, will be persecuted. We have now seen that two of the judges are media professionals and not military men. It is clear that the issue is politicized and has no relation to the issue of terrorism, not even to the extremist factions. The Tawhid Brigade is a faction with a distinctive character.” “Islamic, but moderate, like the majority of the Syrian people.”

But the former leader of the Free Army did not see that matters would reach the point of European normalization with Assad, and he said that the European countries were not in that position, and were still adhering to their position of requiring the achievement of a political solution before any restoration of relations, adding, saying: “I always called on the factions to join under The umbrella of the general staff to protect them from characterization, and if we do not prevail, the ground will be as narrow as it welcomed the revolutionaries and fighters seeking to build a state of justice.”

He concluded by saying: “Since the revolution did not win, this is normal and these results are expected by organizations and people affiliated with the revolution but who hate it…but the revolution will triumph, God willing.”

A letter from a former spokesman for the Tawhid Brigade to the German judiciary

“Abu Al-Hassan,” the former media spokesman for the Tawhid Brigade (during the period from July 2013 until the end of 2013), confirmed that the decision “is offensive to the German claim, as it equates the victim with the executioner, and the aggressor with the attacked. Everyone knows that the presence and arming of the Brigade was to repel oppression.” The injustice of Assad’s forces against the defenseless Syrian people has exceeded the limits of imagination.”

He added, “Liwa al-Tawhid had a good reputation among the general Syrian people, as did its leader, the martyr Abdul Qadir al-Saleh, may God have mercy on him. He had a good reputation and high morals that were attested by the enemy before the friend. Labeling the brigade with terrorism means adopting what the Assad regime promotes, which considers everyone who… Carrying weapons to defend the people is a terrorist act.”

Abu Al-Hassan also stressed that any accusation must be based on concrete facts and data, and that the presence of a few individuals who may have committed mistakes and who may have belonged to the brigade at some point does not mean that the brigade bears the consequences of their mistakes.

He pointed out that a large number of the revolution’s media professionals worked with the Brigade, and “they later worked with independent media outlets and humanitarian organizations, and they did not carry weapons during their work with the Brigade (although carrying a weapon in itself is not a crime unless the bearer commits a crime).”

The spokesman called on the German judiciary to “reject and annul the case and acquit the accused in order to preserve its reputation and justice,” wishing that human rights and humanitarian organizations in Germany and throughout Europe would help the accused and work to acquit them.

Abu Al-Hassan also called on “the brigade’s leaders who are still alive and all of the brigade’s fans to do what they can to do justice to the accused and defend the revolution and its legacy in all international forums.”

How legal is the German decision?

Professor Ammar Ezz El-Din, director of the office of the Free Syrian Lawyers Association in Hatay, southern Turkey, confirmed to Aleppo Today that the indictment came under German criminal law according to regional jurisdiction and not international criminal law, noting that there is a big difference between the two cases, as with this description the accusation is not based on the principle of jurisdiction. Universal jurisdiction, which states rely on to justify their jurisdiction under crimes committed in accordance with international criminal law, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity committed outside the state.

Ezz El-Din explained that the indictment came in accordance with the German Criminal Code, which prohibits and punishes according to “Article 129, Paragraph A” belonging to foreign terrorist organizations, and criminalizes anyone who belongs to an organization that has cooperated with organizations classified as terrorist, and it is required that the person be an active member and have a role in the activity of this organization.

He stated that the accusation of the media came – according to German vision – Because of “their activity in promoting the organization, which is Liwa al-Tawhid, according to the indictment, because it cooperated with organizations classified as terrorist such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham.”

He added that Article 129 criminalized “anyone who forms a directed organization” that causes any “serious physical or mental harm to another person,” and anyone who participates in “seriously intimidating the population, or unlawfully coercing an authority or an international organization by force or threat of use of force.” “Or destroy or weaken the basic political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a State or an international organization.”

In his answer to a question from Aleppo today about how Liwa al-Tawhid was condemned for cooperating with the Al-Nusra Front, if that was before a German decision was issued to classify the latter as a terrorist organization, Izz al-Din said, “The decision has no retroactive effect,” as it is not based on the issue of cooperation only, but rather On the item related to “intimidating the population and coercing an authority… etc. from the previous paragraph,” in accordance with the German vision.

“Far from Fair” campaign

The Ministry of Defense of the “Syrian Interim Government” said that it was surprised by the decision of the German Federal Prosecutor and his description of the “Syrian revolutionary group Liwa al-Tawhid” as terrorist, calling for caution against the campaign targeting this “currently inactive group.”

It noted in a statement yesterday, Saturday, that “the Tawhid Brigade group that is fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime and the fanatical militias supported by Iran and extremist organizations in various parts of Syria, especially in northern Aleppo, has no connection to terrorism,” stressing that the war that the “Tawhid Brigade” fought was… To restore the basic rights of Syrians to life and practice the stolen democracy.

The statement warned of the danger of Assad and his allies exploiting the right-wing extremist and anti-refugee movements in Europe, and turning the trials into an “far from fair” persecution campaign targeting millions of refugees and thousands of freedom fighters.

The Ministry of Defense called on the German legal authorities to deal with the Syrian situation “neutrally and without bias,” and to reconsider its decision, which “serves specific interests with ideological overtones.”

And it wasAbdul Qader Al-Saleh“The founder and former leader of the Tawhid Brigade has confirmed that the battle that his faction is waging is against Assad’s forces only, and “not against the Alawite or Shiite sects,” stressing that “the decision to take up arms was a reaction to protect oneself from being killed with Assad’s insistence on escalating the violence.”

Al-Saleh was widely accepted by the Syrians because of his spontaneity, simplicity, and distance from extremism, while not being dependent on external parties, according to observers, as he made fighting Assad’s authority his only goal.

Germany had not previously announced the designation of Liwa al-Tawhid as a terrorist organization or group, and its name was not included in the 2022 annual report on protecting the constitution and threats to national security.

The brigade was formed from a group of armed brigades that united in 2012, before launching the “Battle of Al-Furqan” to control the city of Aleppo, and succeeded in liberating 70% of it before Hezbollah and Iranian militias intervened to cause a relative decline in control.

The brigade remained active until 2014, during these two years it assumed the task of maintaining security and combating crime in the areas it controlled.