On Tuesday, August 11, 2026, the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus sentenced former Syrian President Bashar Assad and his younger brother Maher to death in absentia. The court found them guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Syria’s 14-year conflict, which resulted in approximately half a million deaths.

Judge Fakhareddine al-Aryan stated during a live broadcast on state television, "Bashar Assad used state agencies to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Also sentenced to death was Assad’s maternal cousin, Atef Najib, a former Syrian army brigadier general and head of the Political Security Branch in southern Syria’s Daraa province in 2011. Najib was convicted for overseeing a crackdown in Daraa that triggered the uprising and subsequent civil war.

Following the fall of the Assad government in December 2024, Bashar Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia, where they were granted political asylum.

These sentences mark the first legal actions against Assad or his inner circle since the Assad family's five decades in power ended 20 months ago.

Sources