DAMASCUS — Former Syrian president Bashar Al Assad has been sentenced to death in absentia after convicting ​him of crimes including killings, torture, and arbitrary arrests.It was the first conviction against Assad, who was ousted in a rebel offensive in December 2024 that ended decades of his family’s iron-fisted rule ‌over Syria, and ‌the brutal war ​that killed ‌hundreds ⁠of ​thousands of ⁠Syrians.A Damascus court on Tuesday sentenced the former president, his brother Maher and security official Atef Najib, along with six other former regime officials, to death on charges of murder and torture.Najib was tried in person, while the others were tried in absentia. The court also ordered that Bashar and Maher Al Assad should be pursued internationally.The court convicted Bashar Al Assad of premeditated murder of multiple people, including children, as well as torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity.Najib was indicted on charges including killing, torture and arbitrary detention, participation in the suppression of peaceful protests using live ammunition, and systematic mass killings and torture of detainees resulting in death inside detention centres.A cousin of Bashar Al Assad, Najibpreviously served as head of the Political Security Branch in Deraa, the birthplace of the uprising that turned into a bloody civil war. Deraa had long had a reputation as being solidly pro-Assad. However, Najib's imperious two-year reign there was instrumental in turning it against the regime.Syrian authorities issued an arrest warrant December for Bashar Al Assad on murder and torture charges, the first legal action against him by the country he ruled for 24 years.He fled to Russia when Ahmad Al Shara, now Syrian president, led insurgents in a lightning, 11-day offensive that ended five decades of Assad family rule. In the past months, the government has captured hundreds of former officials and security operatives, but not the top echelons of the former regime, most of whom are in Russia.In the last decade of the former regime, Syrian dissidents sought legal action against Bashar Al Assad in western countries, but failed to achieve any results.His troops, as well as loyalist militias, killed thousands of civilians in the initial crackdown on the revolt in Deraa and the rest of Syria. By the end of 2011, Syria was in civil war.