Ex-Syria President Bashar al-Assad arrives at the Elysee Palace in Paris for his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. (AP Photo/ File)Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother Maher were sentenced to death on Tuesday on charges of “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” during Syria’s 14-year conflict that has left around half a million people dead, AP reported. Assad’s cousin also sentenced to deathIn the same case, Assad’s maternal cousin Atef Najib was also sentenced to death for leading the crackdown in the southern province of Daraa that led to the uprising and triggered the civil war. As a Syrian judge read the sentencing, Najib stood his ground inside a cage wearing a prisoner’s uniform with a crowd gathered outside the courthouse in Damascus.