World

Former Syrian president Assad sentenced to death

By AAP Newswire

Aug 11, 2026

President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Syria, in 2019 — Bashar Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia after insurgents marched into Damascus in 2014. -AP

A Syrian court has sentenced in absentia ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad along with his younger brother to death for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syria's 14-year conflict that left about half a million people dead.

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Also sentenced to death in the same case was Assad's maternal cousin Atef Najib for leading the crackdown in the southern province of Daraa that led to the uprising and later the civil war.