Syria's highest Islamic official under the deposed Assad regime, Ahmad Badr Al Din Hassoun, has been sentenced to life in prison after being tried on charges of “incitement to violence, justification of killing and abuse of office”, the state news agency Sana said on Monday. The court also ordered the confiscation of his moveable assets.
The mufti went on trial in the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus in June. He was accused of using his position to encourage members of the former regime to crack down on anti-government protesters and supporting Russia and Iran's intervention in the Syrian civil war. He was also charged with “publicly supporting officers implicated in war crimes”, including the former head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani.
Hassoun, who is in his 70s, appeared in court three times in July and for a fifth hearing this month, where his testimony was heard, video evidence against him was presented and verified, and witness statements were taken, Sana reported.
“One witness said he and his family had been repeatedly extorted following his sister’s detention and had paid money and provided goods in exchange for Hassoun’s intervention,” the report said.
Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Hassoun. The current Syrian authorities under President Ahmad Al Shara have been carrying out trials of Assad-era officials, most of whom have been sentenced to death.
Most recently, former warlord Waseem Al Assad, a second cousin of the deposed dictator, received the death penalty for murder and torture committed during the civil war. He is the fourth member of the Al Assad family to be sentenced to death since the court in Damascus began issuing verdicts this month in cases related to the 2011-2024 war.
The same court earlier sentenced Bashar Al Assad and his brother Maher to death in absentia, along with their first cousin Atif Najib, for their role in the crackdown on public protests in Deraa, the cradle of the Syrian revolt, in 2011. The former dictator and his brother are in Russia after fleeing Syria when rebels seized power in December 2024.
Last week, Lebanon handed over an Assad-era general, Adel Issa, to Syria after he was arrested in the country. He once commanded Syria’s 17th Division before being transferred in 2015 to lead ground forces in Deir Ezzor until he retired the following year. He faces charges of torture and murder.
