A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother, Maher, to death in absentia over crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the country’s prolonged conflict.
Naija News reports that the ruling by the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus marked the first major convictions involving Assad or members of his immediate circle since his family’s decades-long rule ended in December 2024.
The conflict, which lasted about 14 years, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions of people.
“Bashar Assad used state agencies to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Judge Fakhareddine al-Aryan said during proceedings broadcast live on Syrian state television.
Assad’s maternal cousin, Atef Najib, was also sentenced to death in the same case.
Najib was convicted over his role in the security crackdown in the southern province of Daraa, where protests in 2011 helped trigger the uprising that later developed into a civil war.
He appeared in court while the judgment was delivered under heavy security. A crowd also gathered outside the courthouse in central Damascus as the verdict was announced.
Najib, a former Syrian army brigadier general, headed the Political Security Branch in Daraa during the early stages of the uprising.
He was sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department in April 2011 and was subsequently detained after the fall of the Assad government.
The Daraa uprising began after several teenagers were arrested over anti-government graffiti written on a school wall.
Their treatment by security agencies sparked widespread anger and demonstrations against Assad’s government.
The authorities responded with a crackdown, and the unrest later escalated into a nationwide armed conflict involving government forces, opposition groups and foreign powers.
The war eventually ended Assad’s rule after opposition forces launched a rapid offensive in late 2024.
Bashar and Maher Assad fled to Russia after the collapse of the government in December 2024 and were subsequently granted political asylum.
Syria’s new authorities have asked Moscow to extradite members of the Assad family to face prosecution.
Maher Assad previously commanded the Syrian military’s 4th Armoured Division, a powerful formation that opposition groups accused of serious abuses during the conflict.
The death sentences were delivered in the absence of both brothers, who remain outside Syria.
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