Who's next after the Assad death sentence? Justice awaits for the 3,500 former regime figures still at large

The death sentence handed to Atif Najib, a cousin of former Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, has quelled a desire for retribution among Syrians for the crimes committed by the regime during the 2011 to 2024 civil war. However, thousands of other former regime members and associates remain at large, some of whom have been spared prosecution as the new government seeks alliances to bolster its power.

Najib, a former political intelligence commander, was convicted for his role in the suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations in the southern province of Deraa, which sparked the civil war. The Syrian government has only moved against 40% of the 6,000 former regime members on whom files have been prepared for prosecution. The state is obligated to act if lawsuits are lodged against these individuals.

Despite the sentencing of Al Assad and six other former regime operatives to death in absentia, Russia has not indicated it will extradite the former president or others who fled to Moscow. Revenge killings of those seen as Assad regime collaborators have been carried out almost daily in Syria, and mass killings have taken place against Alawites, the minority group to which Assad belongs.

The government's treatment of former regime figures, like sparing Najib but not others like warlord Fadi Saqr and businessman Khaled Al Ahmad, has sparked outrage and raised concerns about the government's commitment to justice and civil peace.