Damaskus (AFP) – A Syrian court sentences former ruler Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia, after convicting him over charges of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” during the country’s civil war. It is the first such ruling under Syria’s transitional leaders who ousted Assad in December 2024, vowing to provide justice and accountability for crimes committed under his rule. Assad fled to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on Damascus after a lightning offensive. More than half a million people were killed in Syria’s civil war and millions displaced, while tens of thousands disappeared, many into the country’s prison system.
