A criminal court in the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday sentenced former President Bashar al-Assad and several other former officials to death. The Fourth Criminal Court in the city unanimously convicted al-Assad, who remains abroad and was tried in absentia, on charges of murder and incitement to murder and sentenced him to death, according to reports on the court proceedings. The court also sentenced former senior security official Atef Najib to death over killings and abuses linked to the Syrian conflict, the reports said, adding that a total of nine former officials received death sentences. Najib headed the Political Security branch in Daraa when protests erupted in the city in March 2011. Najib was arrested by Syria’s new authorities in the coastal province of Latakia in January 2025 following the fall of al-Assad’s government in December 2024.