A Damascus criminal court on Tuesday sentenced Wassim al-Assad, a cousin of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to death after convicting him of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ruling, broadcast live on state television, found that Wassim al-Assad formed armed groups that carried out killings, field executions and torture of civilians in eastern Ghouta beginning in 2011, coordinating with officers from the Fourth Division.
Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan stated that Wassim al-Assad was found guilty of murder and acts of torture and brutality qualifying as crimes against humanity. The court imposed additional prison terms for intentional injury and fraud, while acquitting him of drug trafficking charges for insufficient evidence. The court ordered the confiscation of his assets and directed that case files be shared with the national missing persons body to aid the recovery of remains in Mleiha.
Wassim al-Assad was arrested in June 2025 at the Syrian-Lebanese border. The verdict follows the death sentence handed down last week in absentia to Bashar al-Assad and his brother Mahir. Bashar al-Assad remains in Russia, which has not agreed to extradition.