Syrian court sentences Assad's cousin to death for war crimes
A Damascus court sentenced Wassim al-Assad, a cousin of ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, to death on Tuesday over multiple murders and torture-related killings. He had been in detention since mid-2025.
A court in Damascus on Tuesday sentenced Wassim al-Assad, a cousin of former long-time Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, to death.
Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan announced that Wassim al-Assad was found guilty of multiple murders and of "murder accompanied by torture and brutality," crimes the court classified as crimes against humanity and war crimes. The judge stated that the death sentence followed from this conviction.
Wassim al-Assad's detention was confirmed in June 2025 by Syria's official news agency SANA, which released a photograph of him via the Syrian Interior Ministry's Telegram channel, though the location of his arrest was not disclosed.
The ruling comes just a week after Bashar al-Assad himself was sentenced to death in absentia. Bashar al-Assad ruled Syria for more than two decades before being removed from power and has since remained outside the country.
The verdicts reflect ongoing efforts by Syria's new judicial system to hold former regime figures accountable for crimes committed during Assad's rule.
