DAMASCUS: A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced ousted former president Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia after convicting him of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country’s devastating civil war.
Assad fled Syria with his family to Moscow in December 2024 as rebel forces advanced on Damascus, bringing his nearly 24-year rule to an abrupt end.
The ruling marks the first death sentence handed down against Assad by Syria’s transitional authorities, which have begun prosecuting senior figures associated with his former government both in person and in absentia.
Born in 1965, Assad succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, as president in 2000 following the latter’s death. His rule was later dominated by the civil war that erupted in 2011 after nationwide protests demanding political reform and greater democracy were met with a violent crackdown.
The conflict, which erupted following nationwide protests in 2011, resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, the displacement of millions of Syrians and widespread allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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The court also sentenced former Assad-era security official Atif Najib to death over crimes against humanity committed while he headed political security in Daraa province, where the 2011 uprising began.
Najib, a cousin of Assad who was arrested in January 2025, was convicted of several offences, including murder, the intentional killing of children under the age of 15 and torture resulting in death.
The court described the offences attributed to Najib as crimes against humanity and imposed what it called the harshest available punishment – the death penalty.
The cases represent a significant step by Syria’s transitional authorities towards holding senior figures from the former regime accountable for abuses committed during the country’s 13-year conflict.
