PREVIEW

Syria Sentences Bashar al-Assad to Death in Absentia for War Crimes. A Syrian court has sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for crimes committed during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war. It marks the first legal conviction against the ousted leader since the regime’s fall. Assad was found guilty of premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary arrests and crimes against humanity after a trial that began in April. The former president fled Syria after rebels overthrew his government in December 2024 and is now living in Russia, which granted him asylum. Therefore, the sentence cannot be carried out. His younger brother, Maher al-Assad, who commanded the elite 4th Armoured Division during the war, was also sentenced to death in absentia. Assad’s cousin Atef Najib, a former security chief in the southern province of Daraa, received the same sentence and was the only one of the three to appear in court. The verdict was welcomed by crowds, while Syria’s new authorities presented the case as an important step toward justice and accountability for abuses committed under Assad’s rule. The death sentences are likely to have limited effect unless Russia agrees to hand Assad and his brother over to Syrian authorities: the capital penalty could make extradition even more difficult.
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