Syria sentences Bashar al-Assad and former officials to death over war crimes

He led the crackdown against Syrian protesters in Daraa province in 2011, but it was Atif Najib who awaited the verdict in his trial from inside a cell. The first major judicial reckoning for victims of the Assad regime. Combine the penalties that restrict freedom with implementation of the most severe penalty against him, which is execution. The judge passed down sweeping death sentences in absentia for eight other defendants. Convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, arbitrary detention and torture, including of children. Those defendants include former President Bashar al-Assad and his army commander brother Maher. The ruling marks a first step in Syria's efforts to achieve transitional justice. Ramzi Abu Nabut's brother was killed in 2011 in the Al-Omari Mosque massacre, directly overseen by Najib. He says he's been waiting for this moment ever since. My brother Ahmad was injured during a demonstration at dawn on March 11, 2011. Atif Najib delayed the ambulance that was taking him to get treatment for three hours under the pretext of investigation. Celebrations outside the courthouse in Damascus saw revelers lifting up the prosecutor onto their shoulders, carrying him down the street. I was detained in 2011 for six months while I was a student at Latakia University. I lost the best years of my life because of Atif Najib. We always expected that this day would come and now it has. The joy is beyond description. Justice has been served with the death sentences issued against Atif Najib and Bashar al-Assad. Syria's Minister of Justice released a statement saying that legal processes for appeal needed to be completed before Najib's death sentence could be carried out. And Bashar and Maher al-Assad remain in Russia, where they've been granted political asylum. A criminal court here at the Palace of Justice issued those death sentences. The decisions are a symbolic victory for the regime's victims in Daraa and beyond. But the ultimate test for post-Assad Syria will be translating rulings like this one into meaningful accountability. Obaydahito al-Jazeera, Damascus, Syria.