Syria sentences Assad to death in absentia

A torn portrait of Bashar al-Assad

(Image credit: Ali Haj Suleiman / Getty Images)

What happened

A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad to death, finding him guilty of murder, torture and crimes against humanity committed before and during Syria’s bloody 14-year civil war. Assad, his younger brother Maher and six of the seven other former officials handed death sentences by the Damascus court were tried in absentia. Assad’s cousin Atef Najib stood in a cage in the courtroom for the verdicts.

Tuesday’s verdicts were the “first against Assad or any members of his inner circle since his family’s five decades in power came to an end 20 months ago,” The Associated Press said. They are “mostly symbolic” for Assad and his brother, who both fled to exile in Russia after their government’s “stunning collapse.” The sentences were nonetheless “met with celebrations” across the country, The New York Times said. Many Syrians have become “increasingly resentful and impatient at the lack of accountability” and the “pace of trials,” even as legal experts “cautioned that transitional justice takes time.”