Syria\u2019s National Transitional Justice Commission<\/a> and director of its Accountability Department, said the latest hearing represented one of the closing stages of proceedings against Hassoun.<\/p>\nAccording to Mustafa, prosecutors argued that evidence and testimony contained in the case file showed Hassoun was involved in a number of serious crimes and called on the court to impose the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Mustafa said a lawyer representing a civil claimant also submitted a written memorandum arguing that Hassoun bore responsibility for the charges against him and similarly called for the maximum legal punishment.<\/p>\n
Hassoun\u2019s defence team, meanwhile, asked the court for additional time to complete its arguments.<\/p>\n
The court later moved the case to the review and verdict stage after hearing arguments from prosecutors, the civil claimant and the defence during the fifth session of the trial, as well as Hassoun\u2019s final statement.<\/p>\n
Judges then unanimously agreed to deliver their verdict on 24 August.<\/p>\n
Hassoun\u2019s trial began on 25 June and centres on accusations related to his conduct during his tenure as Syria\u2019s Grand Mufti under the rule of former president Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors accuse him of exploiting his religious office to establish extensive relationships outside formal state structures with Assad, senior security and military officials, and leaders of sectarian militias.<\/p>\n
He is also accused of inciting the repression of civilians in areas where anti-regime protests took place, publicly supporting military officers accused of war crimes, and openly backing Russian and Iranian intervention in Syria on behalf of Assad\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n
Bassem al-Kuwatli, a Syrian analyst and former president of the Syrian Liberal Party, questioned whether Hassoun\u2019s alleged conduct warranted the death penalty and warned that an execution could have wider consequences for Syria\u2019s efforts to prosecute former regime figures.<\/p>\n
“Despite Hassoun\u2019s involvement in supporting the Assad regime and justifying its crimes, he was not personally involved in committing those crimes or ordering them,” al-Kuwatli told The New Arab.<\/p>\n
He also warned that applying the death penalty could complicate attempts to bring suspects living abroad back to Syria to stand trial.<\/p>\n
“Executing Hassoun would make it much harder for Syria to request the extradition of actual war criminals from countries that oppose the death penalty, and would have a negative impact on the transitional justice process,” he said.<\/p>\n
Hassoun was one of the most prominent religious figures associated with the Assad era and regularly appeared publicly in support of the regime during the Syrian conflict.<\/p>\n
His case forms part of a wider series of prosecutions against senior political, security and regime-linked figures following Assad\u2019s removal from power.<\/p>\n
Syrian courts have also set 11 August as the date for a verdict in the case of Atef Najib, the former head of the Political Security branch in Daraa.<\/p>\n
Najib became one of the most notorious security officials associated with the early stages of the 2011 uprising, after children in Daraa were detained and tortured for writing anti-government graffiti on walls.<\/p>\n
A verdict against Wassim al-Assad, a cousin of the ousted president, is meanwhile expected on 18 August.<\/p>\n
The sequence of rulings will culminate with the verdict in Hassoun\u2019s case on 24 August, as Syria\u2019s new authorities continue proceedings against figures accused of abuses and complicity in crimes committed during the former regime.<\/p>\n
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