Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been sentenced to death in absentia after a Syrian court found him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country’s civil war. The ruling is the first of its kind against Assad since Syria’s transitional authorities began prosecuting former regime officials this year.
Assad, who ruled Syria from 2000 until his overthrow in 2024, is currently in exile in Moscow. He fled Syria in December 2024 after rebel forces entered Damascus and his government collapsed, while his brother Maher also left for Russia.
Assad’s Cousin Also Sentenced to Death
Assad’s maternal cousin, Atef Najib, was sentenced to death in the same proceedings. Unlike Assad, Najib was present in the courtroom, behind bars and wearing prison clothes when the sentence was delivered.
Najib, a former brigadier general in the Syrian army, headed the political security department in the southern province of Daraa in 2011. The court held him responsible for the repression there that preceded the uprising against Assad’s government and the subsequent civil war.
The reports state that minors in Daraa were detained and tortured over anti-regime graffiti. Those events contributed to mass protests against Assad’s government, which subsequently developed into the wider conflict in Syria.
Najib was later arrested and became one of the highest-ranking former regime officials to be tried by Syria’s new authorities. Proceedings have been launched against both detained former officials and those being tried in absentia.
Years of Allegations Against Assad’s Government
Assad’s rule from 2011 onward was accompanied by widespread allegations of atrocities, including the use of chemical weapons such as sarin, chlorine and mustard gas. The reports also refer to the 2013 gas attack on rebel-held Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, as well as numerous allegations of torture, rape and other abuses during the conflict.
After 24 years of Assad’s rule and approximately 13 years of civil war, his government collapsed toward the end of 2024. Rebel forces took Damascus and announced through state television that Assad had been removed and that prisoners held by his government were being released.
The Sednaya prison complex north of Damascus, described as one of the symbols of repression under Assad, was also taken over by rebel forces. According to an Amnesty International estimate cited in the reports, between 5,000 and 13,000 people were executed at Sednaya during Assad’s rule.
Assad later said in his first statement following the collapse of his government that he had not planned to leave Syria but had been evacuated by the Russian military. He remains in Moscow and, according to the reports, is also subject to several international warrants related to alleged war crimes and human rights violations.
Ahmed al-Sharaa was subsequently appointed Syria’s transitional president. The reports state that the country later held its first elections following more than four decades of authoritarian rule by the Assad family and years of civil war.
