Court sentences Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia in landmark trial

A Damascus court has sentenced former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia, alongside his brother Maher and former security official Atef Najib, on charges of murder, torture, and incitement to murder, Middle East Eye reports. The court convicted Assad of the premeditated murder of multiple people, including children, along with torture, arbitrary detention, and crimes against humanity, while Najib, tried in person after his arrest, was convicted on related charges including the killing of children under fifteen. Assad fled to Moscow in December twenty twenty-four as opposition forces advanced on Damascus, and Middle East Eye notes this ruling is the first handed down under Syria's transitional authorities.

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