Syria’s court sentenced ousted leader Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia on Tuesday, convicting him of killings, torture and arbitrary arrests committed during the country’s nearly 14-year war.
The ruling marks the first conviction against Assad, who was removed from power in a rebel offensive in December 2024, ending decades of his family’s rule over Syria.
Assad fled Damascus as rebel forces advanced and is currently in Moscow.
Assad Convicted of Multiple Crimes
A judge sentenced Assad to death for what the court described as the “premeditated and intentional murder of more than one person and of children, torture, arbitrary arrest and crimes against humanity.”
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Atef Najib, a former security official under Assad, was also sentenced to death.
The verdict represents a major legal development surrounding Assad’s rule and the violence that defined his presidency.
Fourteen Years of Conflict
Assad became president in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for decades.
He maintained his family’s political dominance and the influence of the Alawite sect in the predominantly Sunni Muslim country. Under Assad, Syria also remained an Iranian ally and hostile toward Israel and the United States.
His rule became increasingly defined by civil war after the 2011 Arab Spring protests, when Syrians took to the streets demanding democracy and were met with deadly force.
The conflict ultimately killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and reshaped the country’s political and social landscape.
A Landmark Judgment
The death sentence marks a significant turning point in the legal reckoning over Assad’s rule. His conviction directly links the former president to killings, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity during the conflict.
However, the sentence was issued in absentia while Assad remains in Moscow. The immediate significance of the ruling therefore lies less in its enforcement and more in its establishment of a formal judicial judgment against the former Syrian leader.
The verdict also represents a sharp break from the decades in which Assad’s family dominated Syria’s political system. His removal, followed by a criminal conviction, signals how dramatically the country’s political landscape has changed since the end of his rule.
With information from Reuters.
