Assad Sentenced to Death in Absentia, Ending 50‑Year Dynasty

A Syrian court has sentenced ousted dictator Bashar al‑Assad to death in absentia, after convicting him of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country’s civil war.

This is the first conviction against Assad, who fled from Damascus to the Russian capital, Moscow, with his family after his regime was overthrown in December 2024, ending his family’s five‑decade grip on power.

Assad’s cousin and former head of political security in Deraa province, Atef Najib, was also sentenced to death. He appeared wearing a striped prison uniform inside a cage in the courtroom as the judge read out his sentence. Deraa is widely seen as the birthplace of the uprising against Assad’s rule.

In March 2011, the detention and alleged torture of a group of teenagers accused of writing anti‑government graffiti sparked protests in the city, which were met with a violent crackdown by security forces. That response helped ignite nationwide demonstrations that escalated into civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.

The new Syrian government, formed after the regime’s collapse, has begun trying officials associated with the former regime earlier this year. Najib is one of the highest‑ranking officials to be put on trial, convicted of crimes including murder, intentional killing of children under 15 and torture leading to death.

The court also sentenced six former military and security officials in absentia to death, including Bashar al‑Assad’s younger brother Maher, who ran the army’s elite Fourth Division and fled to Moscow when the regime fell. Other convicted include former defence minister Fahd al‑Freij.

Outside the courthouse after the ruling, hundreds of people of all ages gathered holding pictures of their loved ones who were killed by the regime. Crowds were clapping and chanting, while cars drove by excitedly honking their horns. A group of men passed out flags. “The joy is indescribable,” one man told the BBC, hoisting up a photo of his late father. “God willing we will see Bashar al‑Assad and all his aides hanging on the gallows.”

Another woman told the BBC everyone is feeling a mix of “victory and liberation.” “The voices of the victims are finally heard. Justice has been achieved!” she exclaimed. Nouha al‑Masri, a prosecutor in the case, lost her brother during the March 2011 crackdown and massacre at al‑Omari Square in Deraa. “We have been waiting for 15 years to reclaim even a small part of our rights, for all those who have spilled our blood, committed crimes, violated our rights, killed, and tortured us,” Masri told the BBC.

“Our demand is that this not be the end of the trials… In the new Syria, there will be no impunity from this day forward,” she added.

It remains unclear whether Syria’s new authorities will be able to secure Bashar and Maher al‑Assad’s extraditions from Moscow. The moving against Assad began with an arrest warrant issued last December on charges of murder and torture. He left for Russia as forces under Ahmed al‑Sharaa, now Syria’s president, swept to power in an 11‑day campaign that brought down the Assad dynasty.

Since then, the new government has detained numerous former officials and security personnel, though most senior figures from the old regime, including Assad himself, remain out of reach in Russia. Attempts by Syrian opposition figures to pursue Assad through courts in Western countries during the final years of his rule did not lead to any convictions.

Assad came to power in 2000 after the death of his father. The second son of Hafez al‑Assad, he was not destined to be Syria’s ruler until his brother, Basil, died in a car crash in 1994. Part of the Alawite minority, he continued to favour their dominance in many roles in the military, security and intelligence agencies. Much of his rule was defined by the civil war.

Additional reporting by Lana Antaki in Damascus and Leen Alsaadi, BBC Arabic in Deraa.