Syrian refugees and exiles are divided over whether members of the security forces who defected from the government should be prosecuted for war crimes, or serve as key witnesses to bring senior officials to justice.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the civil war that has been marked by atrocities since it broke out in 2011.
In Germany, home to 600,000 Syrian refugees, authorities have used universal jurisdiction laws to prosecute crimes against humanity and seek justice for victims of torture and extrajudicial killings by President Bashar Al Assad's forces.
In the first case to be brought to a German court, the trial opened in April of two former Syrian intelligence officers on charges of torture and sexual assault.
The suspects had defected in 2012 and were granted asylum in Germany.
Many of the Syrians now in that country are asking if the defectors are friends or foes.
"The trial in Germany is wrong, strategically and morally," said Fawaz Tello, a veteran Syrian dissident.
"Defectors risked their lives to join the opposition and discredit the regime.
"Who in their right mind is going to defect now when they see that people who defected in the first months of the revolution are being put on trial?"
The Syrian government has regularly rejected reports of torture and extrajudicial killings documented by international human rights groups.
Justice for victims
Mahmoud Alabdulah, a former colonel in the Syrian army's elite 4th Division, is one of hundreds of defectors who have given testimonies to German and French judicial officials collecting evidence of war crimes by the government.
Mr Alabdulah says a military card identifying his rank is the most valuable item of the few belongings he carried when he left Syria six years ago.
The pink, plastic-covered piece of paper has given more credence to testimonies he delivered in France and Germany against the Syrian government, he says.
"I saw soldiers being executed for refusing to open fire on protesters and heavy artillery fired towards civilian areas," said Mr Alabdulah, 56, a father of five, rolling a cigarette in a modest flat in the eastern German city of Gera where he lives with his wife.
"I remember the night I decided to defect: February 13, 2012.
"I was praying in my room, lights off, at the Saboura military base [west of Damascus] and I said, 'God, I don't want to take part in such crimes, please help me get out of here'."
Campaigners have hailed the process in Germany as a first step towards justice for thousands of Syrians who say they were tortured in government centres.
Attempts to establish an international tribunal for the war had failed.
"No one has the right to tell victims they should not seek justice," said Anwar Al Bunni, of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, which is representing victims in the torture trial.
"Ignoring suspected war criminals is equivalent to white-washing the Assad regime."
The main defendant in the trial, Anwar R, is charged with 58 murders in a Damascus prison where prosecutors say at least 4,000 opposition activists were tortured in 2011 and 2012.
He has denied all the charges.
Anwar R was an intelligence colonel in Mr Al Assad's security system but defected in 2012 to Turkey, where he became active in the opposition Free Syrian Army.
He went to Germany in 2014 and was granted asylum.
Mr Tello said Anwar R was a member of an opposition delegation at UN-sponsored talks in Geneva six years ago, which were aimed at ending the conflict, making his trial a "humiliation" for opposition groups marred by infighting.
Mr Alabdulah questioned whether it was realistic for everyone who committed a crime to face justice.
As to whether he feared charges would be laid against him, he said his conscience was clear because he fought against Mr Al Assad's forces and ISIS militants before he fled to Turkey.
"We are not even close to winning the war," Mr Alabdulah said. "Even if we did, there should be some kind of a general amnesty.
"The Assad family and its most loyal lieutenants should be tried."
World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Profile of RentSher
Started: October 2015 in India, November 2016 in UAE
Founders: Harsh Dhand; Vaibhav and Purvashi Doshi
Based: Bangalore, India and Dubai, UAE
Sector: Online rental marketplace
Size: 40 employees
Investment: $2 million
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
