We’re in Syria. It’s the year 2000, and Bashar al-Assad has inherited the dictatorship from his father. Syrians who have been hoping that this new President means a freer, more liberal Syria are about to be sorely disappointed. It seems the intelligence services are still what really run Syria - and this is where Khaled al-Halabi is about to be posted.  Fritz finds out about the centrality of the intelligence services in Syria, and how Halabi ascended the ranks. He speaks to people who met him, and uncovers more about the kind of person Halabi is. The Syria Trials is a 75 Podcast production. This episode is hosted by Fritz Streiff, and produced by Sasha Edye-Lindner, with research and editorial support from Mais Katt. The voiceovers were provided by Cyril Nehmé, Muhammad Bakri and Amr Hussien. It was mixed by Tobias Withers. Support for our podcast comes from German Federal Foreign Office funds that are provided by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen IFA’s Zivik Funding Programme. If you’d like to find out more about our podcast, head to our website https://75podcasts.org/ Here you'll find an archive of all our episodes with their transcripts, as well as our other productions.