Syria Sentences Bashar al-Assad to Death in Absentia

A court in Syria today (Tuesday) sentenced the country’s ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, who is living in Russia, to death. A similar sentence was imposed on his brother Maher, who fled Syria with him, and on his cousin, Atef Najeeb, a former brigadier general in the Syrian army and head of the security apparatus.

Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan convicted the three of a long list of crimes committed against the Syrian people during their years in power. The ruling stated that Najeeb was responsible for war crimes. Najeeb was also accused of torturing detainees. He denied all the allegations against him.

In the ruling, the judge determined that Assad and his brother were directly responsible for the premeditated murder of masses of civilians, systematic torture, arbitrary arrests, and grave crimes against humanity. The court emphasized that the regime deliberately acted to harm the civilian population.

It should be noted that Judge al-Aryan had previously defected from the regime and was sentenced to death in absentia by Assad’s regime. As reported, Assad fled to Russia at the end of 2024, shortly before rebel forces opposing his rule captured Damascus. Since then, he has lived with his family in a luxury compound in Moscow, under the protection of Russian President Vladimir Putin.