🔶 An Austrian court has sentenced two Syrian military personnel to eight years in prison According to Agence France-Presse, a former Syrian general and a former police officer of this country were sentenced by a court in Vienna on Monday, each to eight years in prison, on charges of torturing opponents of Bashar Assad, Syria’s deposed leader. The case has also had extensive media coverage in Austria, as prosecutors claimed that a secret agreement between Austrian intelligence services and Israel had allowed the former general to be based in Austria. In a statement, the court said that Khaled al-Halabi, 63, a former brigadier in Syria’s intelligence apparatus, was found guilty of charges including torture, threats of sexual assault, and several counts of inflicting severe bodily injury. Musab Abu Rakbah, 54, a former second lieutenant of police, was also found guilty on charges of inflicting severe bodily injury, threats, and sexual assault. The court said that the abuses committed by the two men in the city of Raqqa between April 2011 and March 2013 were part of "systematic organized torture by the state."