Atef Najib, the maternal cousin of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, was sentenced to death by a Damascus court on Tuesday for his role in the 2011 Daraa crackdown that ignited Syria’s civil war.
Najib stood inside a cage wearing a prisoner’s uniform as the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus read out the verdict.
He was convicted on charges including murder, the intentional killing of children under 15, and torture leading to death.
Najib, a Sunni Muslim, served as head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa province, and his crackdown on protesters in 2011 became the flashpoint that triggered the broader uprising against the Assad regime.
The same court also sentenced Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother Maher to death in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Both al-Assad brothers fled to Russia in December 2024 after opposition fighters led by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa took Damascus.
Caroline Rose, a senior director at the Soufan Center, said the sentencing marks a new chapter in Syria’s post-regime accountability efforts.
She noted that in practice the ruling will only apply to Najib, since he remains in Syrian custody while the Assad brothers are unlikely to be extradited from Moscow.
Rose added that the death sentences will likely satisfy Syrians seeking justice but could complicate Syria’s cooperation with the EU and UN, both of which have strict human rights standards regarding capital punishment.
The court heard that al-Assad used the machinery of the Syrian state to order the killing of civilians, including children, along with widespread torture and unlawful detention.
Judges said witnesses confirmed al-Assad held ultimate authority over the crimes committed during the 14-year war, which left roughly half a million people dead.
Najib was detained in January and is among the highest-ranking former officials to face trial inside Syria.
Al-Assad and senior regime figures have also faced legal action abroad, including a German court’s 2022 conviction of a former Syrian intelligence official and a Paris court’s 2024 sentencing of three Syrian officials in absentia.
France has issued two arrest warrants for al-Assad himself, one in 2023 over chemical weapons attacks and another in 2025 tied to a killing in Daraa.
The International Criminal Court has not indicted al-Assad, since Syria is not a party to the Rome Statute and the UN Security Council never referred the case to the court.
