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Syrian court sentences ousted president Bashar Al-Assad to death
Assad fled with his family to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on Damascus in December 2024
- PUBLISHED: Tue 11 Aug 2026, 12:30 PM UPDATED: Tue 11 Aug 2026, 1:01 PM
- By:
- AFP
A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced former ruler Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia, after convicting him over charges of "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" during the country's civil war.
The ruling against Assad, who fled with his family to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on Damascus in December 2024, is the first under the transitional authorities who this year began trying figures from the former government, both in person and in absentia.
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According to Syrian state news agency (Sana), Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Arrian, who led the case, convicted Assad of "the crime of premeditated murder and intent against more than one person and against children, and of the crime of torture and arbitrary detention, and of committing crimes against humanity, and sentences him to death."
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Atif Naguib, an Assad-era security official, was also sentenced to death in the same case.
Najib, a cousin of Assad who was arrested in January last year, was convicted of crimes including murder, "the intentional killing of children under 15", and "torture leading to death".
The acts attributed to him are "crimes against humanity", the court said as it handed down "the harshest punishment against him, which is the death penalty".
Other fugitives named in the case documents include Maher Al-Assad, Bashar's younger brother, Fahd Jassem Al-Freij, Mohammad Ayman Ayoush, Louay Ali Al-Ali, Qusay Ibrahim Mahyoub, Wafiq Saleh Nasser and Talal Fares Al-Asimi. All of them were convicted of intentional and premeditated murder and torture resulting in death, and were sentenced to death.