Syrian Court Sentences Ousted President Bashar Assad to Death in Absentia

A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Bashar Assad to death in absentia.

Assad was ousted in December 2024 after rebel forces swept into Damascus, ending more than five decades of rule by the Assad family.

He and his family fled to Russia, where he was granted asylum, as Syria's new authorities began pursuing former officials over alleged crimes committed during the country's civil war.

What did the court say about Assad?

Assad was convicted of the crimes of "premeditated and intentional murder of more than one person and of children, torture, arbitrary arrest and crimes against humanity."

"The contribution of the criminal Bashar Assad to the crimes was that of the person ultimately responsible for decision-making, mobilizing state institutions to commit them," the judge said.

The verdict was handed down by Damascus' Fourth Criminal Court and read out live on Syrian state television.

Assad, born in 1965, became president in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez Assad.

He continued his family's decadeslong rule, maintaining the dominance of the Alawite minority in Sunni-majority Syria and the country's close alliance with Iran as well as hostility toward Israel and the US.

The Syrian government has been demanding that Moscow extradite Assad.

Assad's brother Maher and several other figures from the ousted government were also sentenced to death in absentia.

They were convicted of premeditated murder and torture resulting in death.

Assad's cousin sentenced in person

In the same case, the court also handed the death penalty to Atef Najib, a senior security official under Assad's rule and a cousin of the former dictator. He was arrested while trying to flee the country in January 2025 and became one of the highest-ranking officials to be put on trial.

Najib, a former Syrian army brigadier general, headed the Political Security Branch in the southern province of Daraa when the uprising against Assad's government began in 2011.

He appeared in court under tight security, standing inside a cage in a prison uniform as the judge read out the sentence.

The court convicted Najib of crimes including murder, the intentional killing of children under 15 and torture resulting in death, describing the acts as crimes against humanity.