Ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad sentenced to death in absentia

What the report says

A Syrian court has sentenced former president Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia after finding him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the civil war, BBC World News reported. The ruling comes after Assad fled Damascus for Moscow with his family when his government was toppled in December 2024, ending more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family.

The same case also led to a death sentence for Atef Najib, Assad’s cousin and a former senior political security official in southern Syria’s Deraa province. BBC World News said Najib appeared in court inside a cage as the judge announced the verdict. He was convicted of offenses including murder, the deliberate killing of children under 15, and torture resulting in death.

Deraa has long been associated with the start of the anti-Assad uprising. The article noted that protests there began in 2011 after the detention and alleged abuse of teenagers accused of writing anti-government graffiti, and that the crackdown helped trigger a nationwide conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Syria’s interim government has begun prosecuting figures linked to the former regime, but it remains unclear whether Assad can be extradited from Russia. BBC World News also noted that an arrest warrant had been issued for him last December, and that many senior former officials remain beyond the reach of the new authorities.