A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia, marking a major legal development following the collapse of his government. The verdict was issued on Tuesday in a case concerning serious crimes committed during Syria’s long-running conflict. 

The court convicted Assad over allegations including war crimes and crimes against humanity. His younger brother, Maher al-Assad, and their cousin Atef Najib were also sentenced to death in absentia. Najib, a former security official in Daraa, was separately prosecuted over the violent crackdown that helped trigger the 2011 uprising. 

The proceedings represent one of the most significant accountability measures against members of the former ruling family since Assad’s government collapsed in December 2024. Bashar and Maher Assad subsequently fled Syria and are currently in Russia, meaning the death sentences cannot immediately be carried out. Syria’s new authorities have previously sought their surrender.

The Syrian conflict, which began after the government’s violent response to anti-government protests in 2011, continued for more than a decade and resulted in an estimated hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The verdict is expected to intensify debate over transitional justice and accountability in post-Assad Syria. Human rights groups have long documented allegations of killings, torture, enforced disappearances and other abuses linked to the former government.

The case could also become an important test of Syria’s efforts to hold senior figures of the former regime accountable through domestic courts.