A court in Syria has issued a death sentence against Bashar al-Assad, the country's ousted former president, after finding him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the nation's long civil conflict.

The ruling marks the first such conviction against Assad, who fled to Moscow with his family in December 2024 when his government was toppled, ending more than five decades of family rule.

Also sentenced to death was Atef Najib, Assad's cousin and former head of political security in the southern province of Deraa. Najib, who appeared in court in a striped prison uniform inside a cage, was convicted of murder, the intentional killing of children under 15, and torture leading to death.

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Deraa is widely recognized as the starting point of the uprising against Assad's rule. In March 2011, the detention and alleged torture of teenagers accused of writing anti-government graffiti sparked protests that were met with a violent crackdown, helping to ignite nationwide demonstrations that escalated into civil war.

The court also handed down death sentences in absentia to six former military and security officials, including Maher al-Assad, Bashar's younger brother and commander of the army's elite Fourth Division, who also fled to Moscow. Former defence minister Fahd al-Freij was among the others convicted.

Nouha al-Masri, a member of the prosecution team and a plaintiff in the case, lost her brother during the March 2011 crackdown at Al-Omari Square in Deraa. She told the BBC: "The verdict reflects the magnitude of the sacrifices we made, the sacrifices of the martyrs, the suffering and pain of the victims, the missing, and the detainees."

She added: "We have been waiting for 15 years to reclaim even a small part of our rights, for all those who have spilled our blood, committed crimes, violated our rights, killed, and tortured us."

It remains unclear whether Syria's new authorities can secure the extradition of Bashar and Maher al-Assad from Russia. An arrest warrant had already been issued against Bashar al-Assad in December on charges of murder and torture.

Since the fall of the regime, the new government has detained numerous former officials, though most senior figures from the old administration remain out of reach in Russia. Earlier attempts by Syrian opposition figures to pursue Assad through courts in Western countries did not result in convictions.

Assad came to power in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, and his rule was largely defined by the civil war that followed the 2011 uprising.

Source: BBC News