LONDON: For almost a quarter of a century, Bashar Assad stood at the apex of a Syrian state in which the president appeared beyond the reach of its courts.
On Tuesday, that relationship was dramatically reversed.
Syria’s Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus sentenced the ousted president to death in absentia after convicting him of offenses including “premeditated and intentional murder of more than one person and of children” as well as “torture, arbitrary arrest and crimes against humanity” committed during the country’s long conflict.
It is the first conviction handed down against Assad by a Syrian court since his government collapsed in December 2024 and he fled to Russia.
His brother Maher, the former commander of the feared Fourth Armored Division, and Atef Najib, the former security chief in Daraa whose treatment of teenage protesters helped ignite the 2011 uprising, were among those also sentenced to death.
