Who is Wassim al-Assad, sentenced to death for Syria war atrocities?

Waseem al-Assad on trial over militia crimes and Captagon trafficking in Syria

Syria has sentenced the former al-Assad regime figure Wassim al-Assad to death for crimes that include premeditated murder and torture during the country’s 14-year war.

His sentence on Tuesday was handed down one week after former President Bashar al-Assad; his younger brother, Maher al-Assad; and cousin Atef Najib were also sentenced to death.

We break down who Wassim al-Assad is and what he has been found guilty of amid ongoing transitional justice efforts in Syria.

Wassim al-Assad, 46, was born in Latakia on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. He is a cousin of Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in a lightning rebel advance on the capital, Damascus, in December 2024.

Bashar and Maher al-Assad and other members of their family fled to Moscow, where they have lived in exile under tight Russian supervision ever since.

A member of Syria’s minority Alawite community, Bashar al-Assad had been in power since 2000. He took over when his father, Hafez, who had ruled Syria since 1970, died.

A transitional government took power soon after the fall of the al-Assad regime. It is headed by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, one of the leaders of the armed opposition groups that overthrew the al-Assad regime. The current government has overseen a judicial process to bring perpetrators of crimes against humanity committed under the regime to justice.