Syria’s ex-president Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad and cousin Atef Najib have been sentenced to death after being convicted of crimes during the country’s nearly 14-year war.
The Criminal Court in Damascus on Tuesday found Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in 2024 and now lives in exile in Russia, guilty of premeditated murder, torture and crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to death in absentia.
The court also sentenced his younger brother Maher al-Assad, also now living in Russia, to death in absentia for premediated murder and torture.
Atef Najib, the former head of political security in southern Syria’s Deraa province who was detained by Syrian authorities in January last year, was sentenced to death for “crimes against humanity”.
Najib, who launched a deadly crackdown on protesters in Deraa in 2011 that led to the uprising and later civil war, stood inside a cage wearing a prisoner’s uniform as the judge read the sentence.
His crimes include murder, “the intentional killing of children under 15” and “torture leading to death”, according to the court.
Ruling bringing Syrians ‘a lot of relief’
The ruling against al-Assad and his relatives is the first under the transitional authorities who this year began trying figures from the former government.
Judge Al-Aryan, who addressed the court, said witness testimony established the former Syrian leader’s role in the crimes as “the highest decision-maker,” and that he had used state institutions to facilitate their commission.
Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto, reporting from the Syrian capital Damascus, said today’s ruling “is going to bring a lot of relief to the Syrian people”, contributing to their “healing process”.
“This is something they’ve waited for a long time,” said Hitto. “They want to see these people that tortured their children, displaced them from their homes and destroyed their communities be held to account for these crimes.”
Hitto said the verdict would also set a strong legal precedent for others accused of crimes under al-Assad’s rule.
“People across Syrian towns are looking for justice, not just for al-Assad, but for the executioners,” said Al Jazeera’s Osama bin Javaid. (Al Jazeera)