![\"Al](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/aljazeera.jpg\")
Tuesday August 11, 2026<\/p>\n
Tuesday August 11, 2026<\/p>\n
![\"Bashar](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786452939s1-1786438530.jpg\")
Bashar al-Assad, left, and Atef Najib [File: AFP and Getty Images]<\/p>\n
Syria\u2019s former President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad and cousin Atef Najib have been sentenced to death after being convicted of crimes during the country\u2019s nearly 14-year war.<\/p>\n
The Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus on Tuesday found Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in December 2024 and now lives in exile in Russia, guilty of premeditated murder, torture and crimes against humanity, and sentenced him to death in absentia.<\/p>\n
The court also sentenced his younger brother Maher al-Assad, also now living in Russia, to death in absentia for premeditated murder and torture.<\/p>\n
Najib, the former head of political security in southern Syria\u2019s Deraa province, who was arrested in January last year, was sentenced to death for \u201ccrimes against humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Najib, who launched a deadly crackdown on protesters in Deraa in 2011, which led to the uprising and later civil war, stood inside a cage wearing a prisoner\u2019s uniform as the judge read the sentence.<\/p>\n
His crimes include murder, \u201cthe intentional killing of children under 15\u201d and \u201ctorture leading to death\u201d, according to the court.<\/p>\n
Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said Najib had denied the charges against him and showed \u201cno remorse\u201d.<\/p>\n
Several other former military and security officials who fled Syria were sentenced to death in absentia, including al-Assad\u2019s Defence Minister Fahd al-Freij and his military intelligence chief in Deraa in 2011, Louay al-Ali.<\/p>\n
\u2018Healing process\u2019<\/p>\n
The ruling against al-Assad and his relatives is the first under the transitional authorities who began trying figures from the former government this year.<\/p>\n
Addressing the court, Judge al-Aryan said witness testimony established the former Syrian leader\u2019s role in the crimes as \u201cthe highest decision-maker\u201d and that he had used state institutions to facilitate their commission.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s Obaida Hitto, reporting from the Syrian capital, Damascus, said the ruling \u201cis going to bring a lot of relief to the Syrian people\u201d, contributing to their \u201chealing process\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something they\u2019ve waited for a long time,\u201d Hitto said. \u201cThey want to see these people that tortured their children, displaced them from their homes and destroyed their communities be held to account for these crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a historic moment for Syria,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
A crowd gathered outside the Damascus court after the sentencing, with some people holding up pictures of victims of torture and killings during the war.<\/p>\n
Hitto said the verdict would also set a strong legal precedent for others accused of crimes under al-Assad\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople across Syrian towns are looking for justice, not just for al-Assad, but for the executioners,\u201d said Al Jazeera\u2019s Osama bin Javaid.<\/p>\n
Syria has repeatedly demanded that Russia extradite al-Assad, a longtime ally of Moscow who reportedly now lives a life of luxury in the Russian capital.<\/p>\n
But despite nurturing ties with Syria\u2019s new government, Moscow has so far refused to extradite al-Assad, whom it has granted asylum.<\/p>\n
Hitto said Moscow is unlikely to reverse course on al-Assad, barring \u201ca major political breakthrough between the two countries\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, he said other al-Assad-era officials residing elsewhere, such as in Lebanon, could potentially be returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Syrian government has been working with Lebanese officials to identify individuals who are currently in Lebanon to bring them back to the country,\u201d said Hitto, adding that Damascus is calling on countries where wanted al-Assad-era officials \u201care either in hiding or being detained\u201d to send them back to Syria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday August 11, 2026 Bashar al-Assad, left, and Atef Najib [File: AFP and Getty Images] Syria\u2019s former President…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[68401,68402,68400,1584,595,68404,30374,68403,95,603,1823],"class_list":["post-245914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-syria","tag-alassad","tag-atef","tag-bashar","tag-death","tag-in","tag-landmark","tag-najib","tag-sentenced","tag-syria","tag-to","tag-trial"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117081696601831651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}