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People cheer in Damascus, Syria on the 11th (local time), after a court sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher al-Assad to death in absentia. / AP-Yonhap

A Syrian court sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad and his key associates to death on the 11th (local time), over charges of leading massacres and torture of civilians during the country's civil war.

According to AP and Reuters, a court in Damascus sentenced Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad — former commander of the 4th Armored Division — and six other former senior officials to death in absentia, on charges including murder, torture, and crimes against humanity.

Assad had faced international condemnation after the crackdown on the 2011 "Arab Spring" pro-democracy movement spiraled into civil war, during which government forces indiscriminately killed rebels and civilians alike. Investigations by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN found that government forces used the nerve agent sarin and chlorine as weapons in attacks on rebel-held areas during the war. Over 14 years of civil war, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and more than a quarter of the population fled abroad.

The ruling marks the first judicial decision handed down since the 50-year rule of the Assad family came to an end 20 months ago.

However, since Assad and Maher fled to Russia immediately after the regime's collapse in December 2024, the likelihood of the sentence actually being carried out is low, and the ruling is seen as largely symbolic.

The only senior figure sentenced to death while actually in custody was Atef Najib, Assad's cousin and former army brigadier general in Daraa Province.

Najib has been identified as the figure who triggered nationwide anti-government protests and the ensuing civil war after arresting and torturing more than a dozen teenagers who had written anti-government graffiti in 2011. The court sentenced Najib to death while noting he retains the right to appeal.

Outside and inside the courthouse that day, victims' families and members of the public gathered to welcome the ruling, but concerns have also been raised by the international community and human rights groups over the fairness of the trial process.

Human rights organizations reaffirmed their opposition to the death penalty itself, stressing that any future appeal proceedings must guarantee fair procedures consistent with international judicial standards.

                                                                                                          Lee Jeong-eun