A Syrian court has sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia after convicting him of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country’s civil war.
The verdict marks the first conviction against Assad, who fled to Moscow with his family after his regime was overthrown in December 2024, ending his family’s five-decade rule.
His cousin, Atef Najib, a former head of political security in the southern province of Deraa, was also sentenced to death.
Najib appeared in court wearing a striped prison uniform and was held inside a cage as the judge read out his sentence. He was convicted of several offences, including murder, the intentional killing of children under 15, and torture resulting in death.
Deraa is widely regarded as the birthplace of the uprising against Assad’s rule. In March 2011, the detention and alleged torture of teenagers accused of writing anti-government graffiti sparked protests in the city.
Security forces responded with a violent crackdown, helping to trigger nationwide demonstrations that later escalated into a civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
Syria’s interim government began prosecuting officials linked to the Assad regime earlier this year, following its overthrow in December 2024. Najib is among the highest-ranking former officials to face trial.
The court also sentenced six former military and security officials to death in absentia, including Assad’s younger brother, Maher al-Assad. Maher commanded the army’s elite Fourth Division and, like his brother, fled to Moscow after the regime collapsed. Former Defence Minister Fahd al-Freij was among the other officials convicted.
Nouha al-Masri, whose brother was killed during the March 2011 crackdown and killings at Al-Omari Square in Deraa, is both a plaintiff in the case and a member of the five-person prosecution team. She has waited 15 years for the trial and verdict.
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“The verdict reflects the magnitude of the sacrifices we made, the sacrifices of the martyrs, the suffering and pain of the victims, the missing, and the detainees,” Masri told the BBC.
“We have been waiting for 15 years to reclaim even a small part of our rights, for all those who have spilled our blood, committed crimes, violated our rights, killed, and tortured us.” Masri described the verdict as the beginning of a new chapter and called for further prosecutions.
“Our demand is that this not be the end of the trials … In the new Syria, there will be no impunity from this day forward,” she said.
It remains unclear whether Syria’s new authorities will be able to secure the extradition of Bashar and Maher al-Assad from Russia.
The latest proceedings are not the first legal action taken against Assad by Syria’s new leadership. An arrest warrant was issued against him in December on charges including murder and torture.
Assad fled to Russia after forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, now Syria’s president, seized power in an 11-day offensive that brought an end to the Assad dynasty.
Since then, the new government has detained numerous former officials and security personnel. However, most senior figures from the former regime, including Assad himself, remain beyond its reach in Russia.
Attempts by Syrian opposition figures to pursue Assad through courts in Western countries during the final years of his rule did not result in convictions.
Assad became president in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for nearly three decades. Bashar, his second son, was not initially expected to succeed him until his elder brother, Basil, died in a car crash in 1994.
As a member of Syria’s Alawite minority, Assad continued to favour members of the community in key military, security and intelligence positions. His presidency was largely defined by the conflict that erupted in 2011 and later escalated into a civil war.
