Civil war: Syria's ex-president Assad sentenced to death in absentia

A Syrian court has sentenced the country's ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, to death in absentia. He was accused of premeditated murder of several people, torture, arbitrary detention, and crimes against humanity. Assad is currently in Russia, which has so far not extradited him to Syria. The verdict of the fourth criminal court in the capital Damascus was read out live on Syrian state television.

In the same trial, Assad's maternal cousin, Atef Najib, who was present in court and standing in a cage in a prison uniform as the judge read out the verdict, was also sentenced to death. As former chief of security in the southern city of Daraa, he was accused of crimes against the Syrian people, including "systematic mass murder" and arbitrary arrests.

In Daraa, the peaceful uprising against Assad had begun in 2011, after youths had sprayed anti-government graffiti on the walls of their school and were arrested. This developed into the almost 14-year civil war.

Najib is one of the few key figures in the Assad government who is himself on trial in Syria. Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia after rebels led by the later interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa marched into Damascus in December 2024. He too, as well as other representatives of the ousted government, were sentenced to death in absentia. They were accused of premeditated and planned murder, as well as torture resulting in death.

Cheers outside the courthouse

Dozens of people gathered in front of the Justice Palace in Damascus during the verdict. After the death sentence against Najib, cheers and screams of joy broke out, as a dpa reporter on site reported. Some people held up pictures of persons whose death Najib was accused of. There were also reports of expressions of joy in Daraa.

The proceedings are part of a series of trials against prominent representatives of the former Syrian Assad government. When the rebel alliance was on the brink of the capital Damascus in December 2024, ruler Assad fled to Russia with his family. Reports suggest that his younger brother Mahir, known as a brutal "butcher", also made his way to Moscow.

So far, it seems unlikely that the sentences will be enforced. If they are ever caught or extradited, they will immediately face execution or a new trial in Damascus.

Assad secured decades-long rule

Born in 1965, Assad took over the presidency in 2000 after the death of his father Hafez al-Assad. He secured his family's decades-long rule and the dominance of the Alawite minority in the predominantly Sunni country with an iron fist. He also consolidated Syria's role as an ally of Iran and Russia, and as an opponent of Israel and the USA.

Assad's term in office was largely shaped by the civil war that developed from the protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. At that time, Syrians took to the streets for democracy, whereupon the regime responded with deadly violence.