The Syrian Criminal Court issued a death sentence in absentia on Tuesday against the ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
According to the Syrian Code of Criminal Procedure, in absentia proceedings allow the Criminal Court to pursue legal measures against defendants who are unapprehended or at large, following due notification and a granted grace period. If they fail to appear, the court may examine the charges and personal compensation claims against them, ultimately issuing an in absentia verdict at the end of the process.
اضافة اعلان
During the verdict session in the case brought against Atef Najib and other fleeing criminals accused of committing crimes against the Syrian people, Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan stated that the court found Bashar Hafez al-Assad guilty of premeditated and intentional murder of multiple individuals and children, torture, arbitrary detention, and crimes against humanity, sentencing him to death.
The court also convicted former security official Atef Najib and sentenced him to death.
Furthermore, the court issued death sentences in absentia against other fugitives named in the case file: Maher Hafez al-Assad, Fahd Jassem al-Freij, Mohammad Ayman Ayyoush, Louai Ali al-Ali, Qusai Ibrahim Mahyoub, Wafiq Saleh Nasser, and Talal Fares al-Oseimi, convicting them of premeditated murder, intentional homicide, and torture leading to death.
The court had held its eighth session on August 4, during which it heard final arguments from the public prosecution, the prosecution, the defense, and the defendant's final statement.
The public prosecution representative requested the conviction of Atef Najib and the remaining fugitive defendants named in the case—including Bashar al-Assad, Maher al-Assad, and others—on charges of murder, torture, arbitrary detention, and squandering public funds, requesting the maximum penalty of death, emphasizing that the evidence in the case was cohesive and interconnected.
The defendant Najib, a cousin of Bashar al-Assad, previously served as head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa Governorate. He bears direct responsibility for the repressive campaigns and arrests that took place in the governorate since the outbreak of the Syrian Revolution in 2011, most notably the detention of Daraa's children in March of that year.
Najib faces charges including murder, torture, arbitrary detention, participation in suppressing peaceful protests with live ammunition, direct responsibility for the Al-Omari Mosque massacre, as well as accusations of systematic mass murder and torturing detainees to death inside detention facilities.
The first trial session for Atef Najib commenced on April 26 as part of a judicial process aimed at uncovering the truth, delivering justice for victims, and holding perpetrators accountable in accordance with legal procedures.
