A Syrian court has sentenced former president Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for war crimes and crimes against humanity during Syria's 14-year conflict, which killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The ruling by the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus on Tuesday, which also sentenced his brother Maher al-Assad to death, is the first judicial verdict against Bashar al-Assad or any member of his family since his father, Hafez al-Assad, seized power more than 50 years ago. It comes less than two years after the regime's collapse ended the family's five-decade rule.
