Syria's Ousted Former President Bashar al-Assad Sentenced to Death for Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes

Damascus: A Syrian court on Tuesday handed down death sentences, delivered in absentia, to former president Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother, holding them accountable for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed over the course of Syria's 14-year conflict — a war that killed an estimated half a million people.

Assad's maternal cousin, Atef Najib, received the same sentence for his role in directing the violent suppression of protests in the southern province of Daraa, the crackdown widely seen as the spark that ignited both the broader uprising and the civil war that followed.

Najib, unlike his cousins, was physically present for the ruling, appearing in court inside a cage and dressed in prisoner attire as the judge announced the sentence under tight security, Associated Press reported.

Bashar Assad and his brother Maher had escaped to Russia in December 2024 following the fall of Damascus to insurgent forces, effectively bringing his presidency to an end. Najib's fate diverged sharply from theirs — he was subsequently captured and went on to become one of the most senior figures from the former regime to stand trial.

According to reports, before his arrest, Najib had held the rank of brigadier general in the Syrian army and served as head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa province in 2011, a position that placed him at the forefront of the crackdown that set the conflict in motion.