Bashar al-Assad: Ex-Syrian president sentenced to death in absentia
- Ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court after being convicted of premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary arrest, and crimes against humanity.
- The conviction represents the first legal judgment against Assad following his overthrow in December 2024, which brought an end to his family’s decades of iron-fisted rule in Syria.
- Assad fled to Moscow in December 2024 as opposition forces captured Damascus, and he currently remains in Russia out of reach of the Syrian judiciary.
- The presiding judge also handed down a death sentence to Atef Najib, a senior security official who served under Assad during the nearly 14-year civil war.
- Assad took power in 2000 following the death of his father Hafez, with his reign defined by violent suppression of 2011 pro-democracy protests that triggered a devastating war claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.
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