The Dutch authorities they arrested one today Syrian resident of the Netherlandswhich is considered suspected of heading an army torture center in Syria; the prosecutor announced.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the man is believed to have been the head of the Syrian National Defense Force’s investigative division in 2013 and 2014. The prosecutor’s office did not release his name.

“It is suspected that from this position this man committed acts of torture and sexual violence against civilians,” it says.

He arrived in the Netherlands in July 2021 and was subsequently granted a temporary asylum permit.

Following a tip-off, the International Crime Squad tracked him down shortly after his arrival.

In recent years Dutch courts have convicted many Syrians of war crimes who were members of opposition and Islamist militias in Syria.

Such cases are prosecuted in the Netherlands under the principles of “universal jurisdiction”, which stipulate that those suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity can be prosecuted abroad.