A Damascus court has sentenced Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher to death in absentia over crimes committed during Syria’s long civil war.
DAMASCUS: A Syrian court has sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia, marking a major moment in the country’s efforts to hold senior figures of his former regime accountable for abuses committed during the civil war.
The Damascus court convicted Assad of crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, premeditated murder, torture and arbitrary detention. His younger brother, Maher al-Assad, who commanded the regime’s elite Fourth Division, was handed the same punishment.
The verdict is the first death sentence against Bashar al-Assad since opposition forces removed him from power in December 2024, ending more than five decades of Assad family rule in Syria. Assad and Maher fled the country and are currently in Russia, where they were granted asylum.
Assad’s cousin, Atef Najib, was also sentenced to death after appearing in court in person. Najib, a former security official in Daraa, was accused of playing a major role in the early crackdown that followed protests in 2011 and helped trigger the wider uprising that developed into Syria’s devastating civil war.
The ruling was met with celebrations in Damascus and Daraa, where Syrians gathered with photographs of relatives who were killed or detained during the conflict. The war ultimately caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
However, the verdict is unlikely to result in Assad’s immediate arrest or execution because he remains in Russia. Legal and political experts say securing his extradition would be extremely difficult, meaning the sentence may initially carry greater symbolic and legal significance than practical effect.
About The Author
