A court in Damascus sentenced Abd al-Jabbar Ghazi Arraq, a member of the quasi-military group Liwa al-Quds linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to life in prison.

The Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported on Thursday that the court, after finding Arraq guilty for joining an armed group with the aim of igniting civil war, fueling sectarian strife, and taking over cities, sentenced him to life imprisonment.

According to the court ruling, these actions, due to their connection with crimes committed in an organized manner and on a large scale during the previous Syrian government era, are considered war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In an interview with SANA, Mustapha Line, lawyer and director of the Department of Responsibility and Accountability at Syria’s National Organization for Transitional Justice, said that the severity of the actions committed, their consequences for civilians, and the threat these actions pose to social peace, were among the reasons for issuing this verdict.

According to him, the sentence was issued without considering any mitigating factors, and the convicted person will not be able to benefit from amnesty.