Bashar al-Assad sentenced to death in absentia by a Syrian court, former high-ranking regime official appears before justice

A court in Syria has sentenced the ousted former President Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother, Maher al-Assad, to death in absentia. They were convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes during the 14-year Syrian conflict, in which around half a million people lost their lives.

In the same case, Atef Najib, a maternal cousin of Bashar al-Assad, was also sentenced to death. He is accused of leading the crackdown in the southern Daraa province, which sparked the uprising and later the civil war in Syria.

Amid heavy security measures, Najib heard the verdict inside a cage and dressed in a prison uniform, as the judge announced the sentence.

Najib, arrested later, became one of the highest-ranking officials of the Assad regime to face a trial.

Atef Najib is a former brigadier general in the Syrian army. In 2011, under Bashar al-Assad’s regime, he headed the Political Security Branch in Daraa province, in southern Syria.

Bashar al-Assad and Maher al-Assad left for Russia after the insurgents marched toward Damascus in December 2014.