Syria’s former president Bashar Al-Assad has been sentenced to death in absentia by a Syrian court over charges linked to war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country’s 14-year conflict. His younger brother Maher Al-Assad, a former senior figure in the Syrian military, has also received the death penalty.

The court convicted Assad over crimes committed during the conflict, which killed about half a million people and forced millions more to leave their homes. Assad fled Syria with his family, including Maher, in December 2024 as Islamist-led forces advanced towards Damascus. He later went to Moscow after his government collapsed.

Assad’s maternal cousin Atef Najib has also been sentenced to death in the same case. Najib, a former Syrian army brigadier general, headed the Political Security Branch in the southern province of Daraa in 2011. He played a major role in the government crackdown there during the early days of the uprising.

The court found Najib responsible for severe crimes during the crackdown. It ruled that he carried out "the intentional killing of children under 15" and "torture leading to death." The court described these acts as "crimes against humanity" and imposed "the harshest punishment against him, which is the death penalty."

Najib remained in Syria after Assad’s fall and was later arrested. He became one of the highest-ranking officials from the former government to face trial. The proceedings against Assad, his family members and other former government figures mark the first such trials conducted by Syria’s transitional authorities. The authorities have started prosecuting former regime officials both in person and in absentia.

The Assad family ruled Syria for more than five decades. Hafez Assad governed the country before his son Bashar Al-Assad took power. Their rule faced a major challenge in 2011 when protests erupted across Syria during the Arab Spring. The unrest soon developed into a devastating civil war that continued for years.

Syria, which had a population of around 23 million, suffered enormous losses during the conflict. More than half a million people were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Millions of Syrians also fled to neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, while many sought refuge in European countries.

The fall of the Assad government brought Ahmed al-Sharaa to power. A former Al-Qaeda commander, al-Sharaa had previously been designated a terrorist by Washington. He later formed Syria’s new transitional government after Assad’s regime collapsed.

The new leadership has promised to build a political future that includes Syria’s different communities. However, renewed violence against minority groups has continued to pose a major challenge. The Assad dynasty had long used sectarian tensions as part of its strategy to maintain power, leaving behind deep divisions within Syrian society.

The death sentences against Assad, Maher and Najib represent a major step in the transitional authorities’ efforts to hold former government figures accountable. Assad and Maher were sentenced in absentia after leaving the country, while Najib faced the court after his arrest in Syria. The cases could become an important part of Syria’s attempt to address crimes committed during the long conflict and shape its political future after decades of Assad family rule.