A Syrian court has sentenced ousted leader Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country’s long civil war, marking the first conviction against the former ruler since his regime was toppled in December 2024.
Assad was not present in court after fleeing Damascus for Moscow with his family when his government was overthrown, bringing an end to more than five decades of rule by his family.
His cousin Atef Najib, who served as head of political security in southern Syria’s Deraa province, was also handed a death sentence. Najib appeared in court wearing a striped prison uniform and seated inside a cage as the judge announced the ruling.
Deraa is regarded as the place where the uprising against Assad’s rule began. In March 2011, protests broke out after a group of teenagers were detained and allegedly tortured for writing anti-government messages.
The security forces responded with a violent crackdown, helping to fuel protests across the country. The demonstrations later grew into a civil war that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Najib was found guilty of several crimes, including murder, “the intentional killing of children under 15” and “torture leading to death”.
Syria’s interim government started prosecuting officials linked to the former regime earlier this year as it moved to bring those accused of abuses during the more than 50-year rule to court.
Najib is among the most senior former officials to face trial. His role in Deraa placed him at the centre of the early security response to the protests that later spread across Syria.
The court also sentenced six former military and security officials to death in absentia. Those convicted include Assad’s younger brother Maher, who commanded the army’s elite Fourth Division and also escaped to Moscow following the fall of the regime.
Former defence minister Fahd al-Freij was among the other officials sentenced.
The ruling drew large crowds outside the courthouse, where people gathered carrying photographs of relatives and friends who were killed during the Assad government’s rule.
People of different ages celebrated the verdict by clapping and chanting, while passing cars honked their horns. A group of men also distributed Syrian flags among those gathered.
“The joy is indescribable,” one man told the BBC while holding up a photograph of his late father. “God willing we will see Bashar al-Assad and all his aides hanging on the gallows.”
Another woman said people were experiencing a combination of “victory and liberation.”
“The voices of the victims are finally heard. Justice has been achieved!” she exclaimed.
For some of those involved in the case, the verdict brought back memories of the violence that began in Deraa more than a decade ago.
Nouha al-Masri, a prosecutor in the case, lost her brother during the March 2011 crackdown and massacre at al-Omari Square in Deraa.
“We have been waiting for 15 years to reclaim even a small part of our rights, for all those who have spilled our blood, committed crimes, violated our rights, killed, and tortured us,” Masri told the BBC.
She said the court proceedings should continue beyond the latest convictions, with more people connected to abuses under the former regime facing justice.
“Our demand is that this not be the end of the trials... In the new Syria, there will be no impunity from this day forward.”