Syrian Court Sentences Assad’s Cousin to Death

A Syrian court on Tuesday handed down an in-person death sentence against Wassim al-Assad, cousin of former President Bashar al-Assad.

The ruling came after similar sentences were issued last week against the former president and several senior security officials from his regime.

The presiding judge of the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus, Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan, announced that Wassim al-Assad had been convicted of “premeditated murder, the intentional killing of multiple people, and intentional killing accompanied by acts of torture and brutality against individuals, constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

The judge said: “The court established, on the basis of conclusive evidence, the involvement of an armed group affiliated with the defendant in an attack on a commercial establishment in the town of Jaramana, the looting of its contents and the abduction of its owner because of his opposition to the regime, in addition to involvement in the abduction and killing of Syrian citizens in several areas.”

The judge added that the court had “sentenced him to death and ordered the confiscation of his movable and immovable assets for the benefit of the public treasury.”

The first hearing in Wassim al-Assad’s trial was held on June 24. He faced several charges, most notably leading and forming irregular armed groups on the orders of Brigadier General Ghiyath Dalla, a brigade commander in the Fourth Division of the former regime, which was led by Maher al-Assad, beginning in early 2011.

The groups were accused of participating in military operations targeting civilian areas in Eastern Ghouta, particularly the town of Al-Malihah, resulting in civilian deaths. He was also charged with drug trafficking and premeditated murder.

On August 11 of this year, the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus had already sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad to death, along with Atef Najib and several other fugitives: Maher Hafez al-Assad, Fahd Jassem al-Freij, Louay Ali al-Ali, Qusay Ibrahim Mihoub, Wafik Saleh Nasser and Talal Fares al-Aissami.

They were convicted of murder, torture, unlawful deprivation of liberty, crimes against humanity and war crimes.