Syrian judiciary resumes sessions of "Mufti Hassoun" trial
The second session of the trial of former Syrian Mufti Ahmed Badreddine Hassoun was held on Thursday, July 16, before the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus, amid the remarkable presence of secret and public witnesses, in a session characterized by clear tension and sensitive intersections between old and modern testimonies.
The hearing began with the testimony of a secret witness coded by the court as "02", in which Hassoun was accused of funding the pro-Iranian Al-Quds Brigade, which was fighting alongside the former Syrian regime's army, through monthly sums ranging from $15,000 to $30,000 delivered through the mufti's son, Abd al-Rahman Hassoun.
Chahed, who worked between 2014 and 2018 in the Religious Inspection Department at the Ministry of Endowments, said that the money was collected from the families of detainees in exchange for promises to intervene to secure their release, and that Abd al-Rahman was receiving part of it in the form of gold pounds.
The witness accused Abd al-Rahman of causing his detention for 88 days in 2018 for failing to perform mandatory service, while Hassoun denied knowing the witness and rejected the full content of his testimony.
A public witness from the two idols
The court heard from public witness Mohammed al-Ali, who said he was a student of Hassoun in Aleppo between 1985 and 1986 before he was arrested on his return to Hasakah, accusing the former mufti of being the one who handed over his name to the intelligence services, based on what an interrogator told him at the time.
Al-Ali spoke about the impact of Hassoun's speeches after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, referring to the latter's visit to the city of al-Sanamayn in Daraa on April 24, 2011, following the deaths of demonstrators, where he warned against "rebelling against the ruler."
The Justice Ministry broadcast part of the hearing, but did not complete the full release of the recording, due to the nature of a number of witnesses, according to follow-up sources at the Justice Ministry.
List of charges against "Hassoun"
Hassoun is facing a number of accusations announced during the first session on June 25, which focus on the nature of his relations with the former Syrian regime's pillars, and the exploitation of his religious position for personal and political gains.
The charges included his participation in meetings and lectures directed at army officers urging them to support the regime in the face of its opponents, in addition to his media appearances with statements that were considered direct incitement against civilians in the rebellious areas and refugees.
The accusations included his calls on the official Al-Ekhbariya channel for the residents of the eastern regions to evacuate their areas, and his talk about the need to "annihilate" areas that were exposed to shelling, in addition to threatening the people of Idlib with death and displacement, saying that the Turkish army would not protect them.
The list also touched on his praise for military officers and leaders involved in war crimes, such as Essam Zahreddine and Qassem Soleimani, and his support for the Russian and Iranian interventions and the accompanying massacres and widespread violations in the country.