The 4th Criminal Court in Damascus, Syria’s capital, handed down a historic ruling in a case involving crimes against the people and humanity. The court sentenced numerous individuals, including former regime leader Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and former head of the Political Security Branch Atif Najib, to death. Announcing the verdict during the ninth hearing of the trial, Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan, stated that the investigation and witness testimonies proved the existence of repression, torture, and massacres against civilians during the protests that began in the city of Deraa in 2011. Al-Aryan, emphasized that Bashar al-Assad played the role of the “highest decision-making authority” in the commission of these crimes by using state resources. The court found Bashar al-Assad, Maher al-Assad, and Atif Najib guilty of “intentional homicide,” “the massacre of children and multiple individuals,” “torture,” “arbitrary detention,” and “crimes against humanity.” It was determined that Atıf Necib, who headed the Political Security Branch in Deraa in 2011, was directly responsible for the raid on the Omar Mosque, the detention of children, and the use of live ammunition against protesters.
The court also ruled that the fugitive defendants named in the case file—including former Defense Minister Fahd Casim al-Freyc, Wafik Nasir, Louay al-Ali, Kusey Mayhoub, Muhammad Ayman Ayyash, and Talal al-Useymi, to the death penalty in absentia on charges of “intentional homicide” and “torture resulting in death.”
Defected from the Assad regime in 2011, sentenced to death
Judge al-Aryan left from the Assad regime on March 13, 2013; following this decision, he was sentenced to death in absentia, and all his assets were seized, with a portion sold at auction. Al-Aryan was able to return to the Syrian judicial system following the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024.