A Syrian court has sentenced former president Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia after convicting him of war crimes and crimes against humanity, marking the first criminal conviction against the ousted leader since the collapse of his regime.
The ruling follows the overthrow of Assad’s government in December 2024, when he fled to Moscow with his family, ending more than five decades of Assad family rule in Syria.
The court also sentenced Atef Najib, Assad’s cousin and former head of political security in Deraa province, to death after finding him guilty of crimes including murder, torture leading to death, and the intentional killing of children under the age of 15.
Najib appeared in court wearing a prison uniform and seated inside a cage as the sentence was delivered.
Deraa crackdown at the centre of the case
The trial focused on events in Deraa, where the 2011 uprising against Assad began.
The arrest and alleged torture of teenagers accused of writing anti-government graffiti triggered protests that were violently suppressed by security forces, setting off demonstrations that escalated into a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people.
In addition to Assad and Najib, the court sentenced six former military and security officials to death in absentia, including Maher al-Assad, the former president’s brother and commander of the elite Fourth Division, who is also believed to be in Russia.
Former defence minister Fahd al-Freij was among those convicted.
Victims welcome the verdict
The judgment has been welcomed by many survivors and families of victims.
Nouha al-Masri, a prosecutor in the case whose brother was killed during the 2011 crackdown in Deraa, described the ruling as recognition of years of suffering.
“We have been waiting for 15 years to reclaim even a small part of our rights,” she told the BBC, calling for further prosecutions of officials linked to the former regime.
Questions remain over enforcement
While the verdict is considered a major legal milestone, it remains uncertain whether Syria’s new authorities will be able to secure the extradition of Bashar and Maher al-Assad from Russia.
An arrest warrant had already been issued for Assad last December on charges including murder and torture, but the country’s most senior former officials have largely remained beyond the reach of Syrian authorities.
The convictions come as Syria’s interim government continues efforts to prosecute figures associated with the former regime, which ruled the country for more than half a century.
The case is widely seen as the first major accountability effort since the fall of the Assad government and could set the stage for further trials related to atrocities committed during Syria’s civil war.
