Syria’s former 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 Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus on Tuesday found Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in December 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 premeditated murder and torture.
Najib, the former head of political security in southern Syria’s Deraa province, who was arrested in January last year, was sentenced to death for “crimes against humanity”.
