Syrian court issues arrest warrant for ousted president Assad

A Syrian judge has issued an arrest warrant for former dictator Bashar al-Assad on charges related to events in Daraa in 2011.

Judge Tawfiq al-Ali told the official Syrian news agency SANA the warrant was issued on charges of premeditated murder, torture leading to death, and deprivation of liberty.

It was issued following a lawsuit filed by families of victims of events that took place in the city, which was also the birthplace of the Syrian uprising against the Assad regime. Al-Ali did not specify further details.

“This judicial decision opens the door for the warrant to be circulated through Interpol and for the case to be pursued internationally,” Judge al-Ali said.

Assad fled to Russia in December 2024 after 25 years of ruling Syria. His departure ended six decades of dictatorial Baathist rule. An interim government led by current President Ahmad al-Sharaa was formed after his ouster.

The Syrian uprising began with peaceful demonstrations in 2011 after schoolchildren were arrested and tortured for painting anti-regime graffiti on a wall in the city now known as the “Cradle of the Syrian Revolution”.

Assad’s forces besieged Daraa with tanks, helicopters, and thousands of troops, cutting off communications, water, power, and supplies, and conducting house-to-house raids and mass arrests while using snipers and heavy artillery against civilian areas of the city.

Most notably, 13-year-old Hamza Ali al-Khateeb was tortured and killed, symbolising the brutality of Assad’s regime.

Brutal suppressions of peaceful protests throughout Syria ignited a civil war that lasted for 14 years, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions.

Assad’s crackdown also included chemical weapons attacks, barrel bombs, and systematic torture in prisons, with the regime widely accused of committing war crimes.

At least 24,200 Syrian prisoners were freed after Assad’s fall, but over 100,000 have disappeared and are presumed dead. Over one million Syrian refugees have also returned.

Following the fall of Assad, its new administration has promised to create special tribunals for those who “committed crimes against Syrians” under the Assad regime.