A Syrian court docket on Tuesday sentenced the nation’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad to dying in absentia, information company AFP reported.
The court docket convicted Assad, who was ousted in December 2024, over expenses of “conflict crimes” and “crimes towards humanity” in the course of the Syrian civil conflict. Assad fled together with his household to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on Damascus on the finish of his rule.
“Bashar Assad used state businesses to commit conflict crimes and crimes towards humanity,” mentioned decide Fakhareddine al-Aryan throughout a court docket session that was aired dwell on state TV.
The court docket additionally sentenced Atef Najib, the previous head of political safety in southern Syria’s Deraa province, to dying. Najib, a cousin of Assad, was accused of overseeing the torture of detainees, together with youngsters, and of being answerable for a number of deaths in the course of the battle.
The ruling towards Assad and Najib is the primary underneath the transitional authorities, which started attempting figures from the previous authorities this yr, each in particular person and in absentia.
Amid tight safety, Najib stood inside a cage carrying a prisoner’s uniform because the decide learn the sentence. He was detained and have become one of many highest-ranking officers to be placed on trial.
The Assad household rule
Bashar al-Assad took energy in 2000 after the dying of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had dominated Syria for practically 30 years. Bashar remained in energy till his authorities collapsed in December 2024.
Formed in its early years by the Iraq conflict and disaster in Lebanon, Assad’s rule was outlined by civil conflict, which spiralled out of the 2011 Arab Spring, when Syrians demanding democracy took to the streets, to be met with lethal pressure. The Syrian safety forces violently suppressed anti-government protests in Deraa and different locations.
The unrest shortly unfold throughout the nation, turning into a protracted battle involving authorities forces, insurgent teams and overseas powers. The conflict was marked by widespread allegations of killings, torture, enforced disappearances and different severe abuses.
