By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
A Damascus court has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher and six other former military and security officials to death for murder, torture, unlawful detention, crimes against humanity and war crimes, delivering the first Syrian conviction against Assad since his government fell in December 2024.
The Fourth Criminal Court issued the verdict on August 11 after nine hearings in a case centered on the detention and torture of schoolchildren in Daraa and the lethal crackdown on protests that followed in March 2011. Those events helped ignite an uprising that developed into nearly 14 years of war.
Assad, Maher and six of the other defendants were tried in absentia. Atef Najib, Assad's cousin and the former head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa, was the only defendant in custody and present when the sentences were announced.
The court also imposed death sentences on former Defense Minister Fahd al-Freij and former security officials Louay al-Ali, Qusay Mayhoub, Wafiq al-Nasser and Talal al-Aysami. Proceedings against another defendant, Mohammad Ayman Ayoush, were dropped following his death.
The unanimous judgment, issued as Decision No. 1 of 2026, runs to 396 pages. The court said a public version would be released through the Justice Ministry after the names of protected witnesses were removed.
Daraa violence at the center of the case
The proceedings examined the arrest and torture of schoolchildren accused of writing anti-government slogans on walls in Daraa in early 2011. According to the judgment, witnesses who were minors at the time described beatings, electric shocks, suspension and the removal of fingernails. The court found that Najib personally interrogated some of the children and played a direct role in the security response that followed.
A demonstration demanding the children's release was met with live fire on March 18, 2011, killing Mahmoud al-Jawabreh and Hossam Ayyash. The ruling also addressed the March 22-23 raid on Daraa's Omari Mosque, attacks on ambulances, the detention of wounded protesters and subsequent security operations that left scores of people dead or injured.
The court convicted Najib of intentional murder, killing children, torture resulting in death, abduction and unlawful deprivation of liberty, classifying his actions as crimes against humanity and offenses under Syrian law.
Because Najib's documented conduct occurred before the Syrian conflict met the legal threshold for a non-international armed conflict in mid-July 2012, the court did not classify his offenses as war crimes. It applied that classification to Assad and the other fugitives after finding that their criminal conduct continued beyond that date.
The ruling held Bashar al-Assad responsible not merely for failing to control state institutions but for directing what it described as a joint criminal project. The judges identified him as the principal decision-maker who established policies, used state institutions to implement them and protected those responsible from accountability.
The court based its findings on testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses, civil claimants, medical reports, official documents, audiovisual material and international reports. It said protected witnesses testified under numerical codes and that their identities would remain confidential.
Enforcement remains uncertain
The court ordered existing arrest warrants against the fugitives to remain in force and instructed the authorities to pursue the procedures required for international prosecution. It also confirmed the seizure of their movable and immovable property and preserved the right of victims who were not parties to the case to seek compensation separately.
The practical effect of the ruling remains limited while Assad and several other defendants remain outside Syria. Assad and his brother fled to Russia after the former government collapsed, and there has been no public indication that Moscow intends to surrender them.
Syrian criminal procedure also allows an in absentia judgment to be annulled if the convicted person is arrested or voluntarily returns, meaning Assad and the other fugitives could face a new trial if brought before a Syrian court.
The verdict nevertheless gives Syria's transitional authorities their most consequential domestic judgment against the former government and places the Daraa crackdown at the center of the country's emerging accountability process.
That process remains contested. Human rights and legal organizations have questioned the speed of the proceedings, the strength of parts of the witness evidence and the adequacy of legal representation, particularly in Najib's case. The use of the death penalty and Syria's reliance on international criminal-law definitions that are not fully incorporated into its domestic legislation have raised further concerns about the judgment's durability and its value for future extradition efforts.
For families who spent more than a decade seeking accountability, the judgment formally recognizes the detention and torture of the Daraa children and the violence against the first demonstrations as part of a wider system of state responsibility. Whether it becomes the foundation of a credible transitional justice process will depend on the quality and independence of the cases that follow.
Sources: Syrian Arab News Agency, Associated Press, Reuters, Bosphorus News review and reporting.