A Damascus criminal court has sentenced Wassim al Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s cousin, to death following his arrest and trial. Because the ruling was issued in his presence, the sentence could ultimately be carried out once appeals and legal procedures are exhausted.
He was convicted of intentional killings, torture as a crime against humanity and a war crime, and forming armed groups accused of killings, kidnappings, and looting during the war.
Wassim al-Assad was also linked to major Captagon trafficking networks under the former regime and was sanctioned by the United States and European Union in 2023 over his role in the drug trade.
Syrian authorities arrested him in June 2025. With him now in custody and sentenced in person, he could become one of the first members of the Assad family to actually face execution rather than receive a sentence in absentia.
