IN BRIEF
- Bashar al-Assad and his brother have been sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes during Syria's civil conflict.
- The pair remain protected under political asylum in Russia.
A Syrian court has sentenced ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother to death in absentia for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syria's nearly 14-year conflict that left about half a million people dead.
The sentences at the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus are the first against al-Assad or members of his inner circle since the family's five decades in power came to an end 20 months ago.
"Bashar Assad used state agencies to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity," judge Fakhareddine al-Aryan said during a court session that was aired live on state TV on Tuesday.
Al-Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia after the government's fall in December 2024 and received political asylum. Syria's new rulers have asked Russia to hand the Assads over.
Also sentenced to death was al-Assad's maternal cousin Atef Najib, who was convicted of overseeing a crackdown in the southern province of Daraa that led to the uprising and later the civil war.
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Al-Aryan said Najib — who did not flee to Russia and has been detained in Syria since early 2025 — can appeal.
Under tight security, Najib stood in a cage, wearing a prisoner's uniform, as the judge read the sentence.
A crowd gathered outside the courthouse in central Damascus to hear the verdict.
"Today is the day of justice for all the wounded, martyrs, detainees and Syrians who were forced to leave their country," lawyer Adnan al-Masalmeh, who represented families of Najib's victims, said.
"Today marks a victory of right against injustice, a victory of the Syrian people against the ousted regime."
Najib, who was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in April 2011, is one of the highest-ranking security officials to be put on trial.
Najib is a former army brigadier general who was head of the Political Security Branch in Syria's southern Daraa province under al-Assad in 2011.
During his tenure, more than a dozen teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a school wall in Daraa were arrested and tortured.
The case became a catalyst for mass protests against the repressive policies of al-Assad's security forces.
The protests were met by a brutal government crackdown that spiralled into a 14-year civil war that ended with al-Assad's removal in a lightning rebel offensive.
Maher al-Assad was a former commander of the Syrian military's 4th Armoured Division — which opposition activists have accused of killings, torture, extortion and drug trafficking, as well as running its own detention centres.
"Today's scenes outside the courthouse reflect 15 years of pain and a justice long denied. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all cases, including this one," Hiba Zayadin, Syria researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.
"It's cruel and irreversible, especially when a fair trial isn't guaranteed."
Zayadin said Najib had the right to appeal, and that process "needs to meet fair trial standards too".
Real accountability for Assad-era crimes depended on Syria building a justice system that lasted, she said.
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