Life Imprisonment: Former Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun Sentenced in Syria
A Syrian court on Monday issued an in-person verdict sentencing former Grand Mufti of the Republic Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun to life imprisonment.
Hassoun was convicted of several crimes, including inciting sectarian tensions and abusing his position during the rule of former president Bashar al-Assad.
Hassoun, the tenth figure associated with the former regime to be convicted by the Syrian judiciary under the transitional authorities, served for more than sixteen years as Grand Mufti of the Republic, the country’s highest official Islamic religious authority.
The former mufti was known for his close relationship with Assad and for his frequent appearances alongside him at religious events.
The presiding judge of the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus, Fakhr al-Din al-Arian, announced Hassoun’s conviction on several charges, including the “felony of an assault aimed at inciting civil war and sectarian fighting.” The judge stated that, on this charge, Hassoun had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
He was also convicted of other crimes, including “intentional incitement to murder,” “primary participation in intentional murder,” and “incitement of sectarian and racial tensions.” He received additional prison sentences ranging from three to twenty years for those offences.
The court also ordered the confiscation of Hassoun’s movable and immovable assets in favour of the public treasury.
This is the first verdict issued against a religious figure as part of the ongoing trials involving individuals associated with the former regime. The proceedings were notably marked on August 11 by an in absentia death sentence issued against Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher, and five security officials linked to the former government.
Earlier this month, a Syrian court issued an in absentia death sentence against former president Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher, and several prominent figures from his former regime after convicting them of “war crimes.”
The Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus held its ninth session on August 11 to deliver its verdict in the case brought against Assad and several prominent figures from his former government, including his brother Maher, the former head of the Political Security Branch in Daraa, and his maternal cousin, Atef Najib.
According to the official Syrian Arab News Agency, SANA, the court sentenced Atef Najib to death in person, along with eight others, on charges of “committing war crimes, murder, torture, and crimes against humanity against the Syrian people.”
