Assad's Death Sentence: A Symbolic Step in Syria's Pursuit of Justice
A Syrian court has sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia, a move that carries deep symbolism for a nation emerging from over a decade of civil war. The judge who issued the ruling, Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan, was himself condemned to death by the same regime years ago, after he defected from the Ministry of Justice in 2013 and joined the judicial bodies of the opposition. His reinstatement as a judge following Assad's ouster in December 2024 illustrates the country's pursuit of transitional justice.
The sentencing, which also covers Assad's younger brother Maher, drew celebrations from some Syrians, who described it as "historic" and "symbolic." For the first time since the Assad family's brutal rule began with Hafez al-Assad in the 1970s, the model of impunity has been broken—even if the penalty is unlikely to ever be carried out, given Assad's exile in Moscow.
The Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions more, and ravaged the country's economy. Ibrahim al-Assil, a senior research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Middle East Initiative, said the sentences are "significant politically and significant emotionally, but at the same time this is only one part of justice that many Syrians have waited for - and are still demanding."
The Road to Justice
The United Nations frames transitional justice as comprising four pillars: justice, truth, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence. Assad's sentencing addresses only the first of these. Al-Assil sees the ruling as "the first step to look at the new state, to ask these questions, are new rules and new institutions emerging in Syria that differentiate between justice under Assad and justice post-Assad."
Al-Assil agrees that more localized trials need to follow, bringing as many perpetrators of the former regime's brutal system to justice as possible. Fadel Abdul Ghany, founder of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, which has been documenting victims of the Assad regime since 2011, echoes that sentiment: "We need lots of cases, not only one, especially targeting the highest rank, so that the feeling of anger in between the people is reduced, so that Syria can move ahead."
Extradition Unlikely
Few believe Russian President Vladimir Putin would ever extradite Assad from his self-imposed exile in Moscow. The death sentence further complicates any extradition under Russian law, but experts say a decision not to hand over a former close ally would be far more political than legal.
Hope Amid Challenges
Despite the daunting road ahead, Abdul Ghany finds reason for optimism. "I think what's working is freedom of speech, freedom of criticism… Syrians can speak freely and criticize the government, authority, even the high-ranking," he said, adding that he frequently criticizes the new government without repercussions.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former rebel commander who has served as Syria's President since 2025, has been outward looking since taking power. After Assad's ouster, Syria bolstered ties with the United States, which lifted most of its crippling sanctions on the country. Syria has also renewed relations with its Arab neighbors who had cut ties with Damascus during Assad's crackdown on protests. In July, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Syria, becoming the first Western leader to do so since 2024.
Al-Sharaa also reached an agreement with Moscow just days ago over two key Russian outposts in Syria: the Mediterranean coastal bases will be transferred to Syrian control.
Tensions Persist
Yet internal divisions remain. Tensions between the Syrian Army and the Druze minority in southern Syria continue to spark deadly encounters. There is also persistent friction between Arab and Kurdish communities in the northeast. The government has had to respond to pockets of violence against the religious Alawite minority along Syria's coast.
Al-Assil says he sees no breakthrough on the horizon yet. He also insists that Syria still needs a national dialogue process "to talk about all those divisions between ethnicities and minorities but also to talk about what Syria is and what they want Syria to be and that process is still not there."