A Syrian court has sentenced ousted President Bashar Assad and his younger brother, Maher Assad, to death in absentia for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Syria’s 14-year conflict.
The ruling was issued Tuesday by the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus and marks the first death sentences against Assad or members of his inner circle since the Assad family’s five-decade rule ended 20 months ago.
Judge Fakhareddine al-Aryan said Bashar Assad used state institutions to carry out war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court proceedings were broadcast live on Syrian state television.
Assad’s maternal cousin, Atef Najib, was also sentenced to death in the same case. Najib was convicted over his role in a crackdown in the southern province of Daraa that helped trigger the uprising that eventually developed into a civil war.
Najib, a former Syrian army brigadier general who headed the Political Security Branch in Daraa in 2011, was detained and appeared in court wearing a prison uniform.
His actions became particularly significant after more than a dozen teenagers were arrested and tortured for writing anti-government graffiti on a school wall in Daraa. The incident helped fuel mass protests against Assad’s security forces.
The government’s violent response to the protests eventually escalated into a conflict that lasted 14 years and left about half a million people dead.
Bashar and Maher Assad fled to Russia after the collapse of their government in December 2024 and were granted political asylum. Syria’s new authorities have asked Moscow to surrender the two brothers.
Maher Assad previously commanded the Syrian military’s 4th Armored Division, which opposition activists have accused of killings, torture, extortion, drug trafficking and operating detention facilities.
Najib was also sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in April 2011 and is among the highest-ranking former Syrian officials to face trial since the fall of the Assad government.
