Syrian court sentences ex-President al-Assad to death in absentia

A criminal court in the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad and several other former officials to death.

The Fourth Criminal Court in the city unanimously convicted al-Assad, who remains abroad and was tried in absentia, on charges of murder and incitement to murder and sentenced him to death, according to reports on the court proceedings.

The court also sentenced former senior security official Atef Najib to death over killings and abuses linked to the Syrian conflict, the reports said, adding that a total of nine former officials received death sentences.

The verdict followed months of proceedings against Najib, whose name has long been associated with events in the southern Syrian city of Daraa in 2011 that preceded the outbreak of nationwide unrest and the subsequent conflict.

Najib headed the Political Security branch in Daraa when protests erupted in the city in March 2011.

His trial reportedly examined allegations related to the detention and mistreatment of schoolchildren accused of writing anti-government slogans, as well as killings and abuses.

Najib was arrested by Syria’s new authorities in the coastal province of Latakia in January 2025 following the fall of al-Assad’s government in December 2024