Wednesday, August 12, 2026 - A Syrian court has sentenced the country’s former president, Bashar al-Assad, and his brother, Maher al-Assad, to death in absentia for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the country’s 14-year civil war, in which about half a million people were killed.
The two brothers fled to Moscow after being ousted by a
lightning rebel offensive in December 2024 that toppled the Assad regime in
just 11 days. Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher, who commanded the feared
Fourth Division and was considered one of the regime’s most powerful security
officials, oversaw a brutal crackdown in which government forces killed,
arrested and tortured civilians in an attempt to suppress protests that began
in 2011.
The court said Bashar al-Assad was sentenced to death for
the “premeditated and intentional murder of more than one person and of
children”, as well as torture, arbitrary arrest and crimes against humanity.
The Syrian authorities said they would pursue international legal avenues to
prosecute the two brothers. However, Russian officials have previously rejected
requests to extradite the former Syrian allies.
The court also sentenced Atef Najib, Assad’s cousin and
former head of political security in Daraa, to death. Najib was accused of
ordering the torture of 15 young boys who had written anti-Assad slogans on a
wall in 2011. The incident became a major trigger for mass protests in the
southern Syrian province before the unrest spread across the country.
Najib’s trial attracted significant public attention, with
images showing him listening to proceedings while dressed in a prison uniform
and held inside a cage in the courtroom. The Syrian government has described
the trial as a landmark case in its efforts to pursue transitional justice,
which experts say will be crucial to addressing the deep divisions created by
years of conflict.
Syria has continued to experience outbreaks of violence in
the post-Assad era. About 1,500 people, mostly Alawite civilians, were killed
in a wave of retaliatory violence in March 2025 after militants loyal to Assad
attacked security forces. Assad belonged to the Islamic Alawite sect, a
minority group in Syria that maintained strong support for his government in
the country’s coastal heartland during his rule.
In July 2025, more than 1,700 people were killed in
massacres in Suweida, a Druze-majority province, after local clashes escalated
into sectarian violence. Low-level violence has continued in northern Syria,
with Alawite civilians particularly targeted.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Syrian authorities have
taken steps towards transitional justice, including establishing committees and
arresting officials associated with the former government in an effort to
address past abuses and prevent further intercommunal violence.
Bashar al-Assad became president in 2000 at the age of 34,
succeeding his father, Hafez al-Assad. He had trained as an ophthalmologist in
London and was not initially expected to become president, but became the heir
apparent after his elder brother, Basil, died in a car accident.
Initially portrayed as a young reformer who could bring
greater political and economic liberalisation to Syria, Assad's legacy
ultimately became defined by his government's violent response to the 2011
uprising. Under his rule, Syria's extensive security apparatus was accused of
operating with little restraint, carrying out widespread arrests, torture and
killings against civilians on a large scale.
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