DAMASCUS – A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad and his brother, Maher al-Assad, to death in absentia, after finding them guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country’s 14-year conflict.
In the same court ruling, their cousin, Atef Najib, who unlike the two Assad brothers was present in the courtroom, was also sentenced to death. Najib was found guilty of leading the violent suppression of protests in the southern province of Daraa in 2011, events that marked the beginning of a popular uprising and then a devastating civil war.
The fall of the regime and the fate of justice Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher fled Syria for Russia in December 2024, after opposition forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa took control of the capital Damascus, ending decades of Assad family rule.
In contrast, Atef Najib – a former brigadier general and former head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa – was later arrested by the new authorities, becoming one of the highest-ranking officials of the former regime to face direct local justice.
The bloody conflict in Syria has left behind a tragic toll of around half a million victims and forced millions of citizens to flee their homes, marking one of the most serious humanitarian crises of the 21st century.