Former Syria grand mufti gets life term for inciting violence under Assad

Damascus,UPDATED: Aug 24, 2026 16:12 IST

A former Islamic religious leader in Syria was sentenced to life in prison on Monday in the latest court case against officials linked to former President Bashar Assad's rule. Former grand mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, a loyalist of Assad who had publicly backed the government's policies, was convicted of inciting violence and justifying murder.

The verdict comes amid a series of trials involving senior figures from the Assad era, including Assad and his brother Maher, who have been sentenced to death in recent weeks, many of them in absentia. While some human rights groups have raised concerns that the trials are being rushed and may be unfair, many Syrians have welcomed the sentences after expressing frustration that the new government was not acting quickly enough against former regime figures.

Hassoun served as mufti from 2005 until 2021, when the post was abolished. He was in custody and present in court when the sentence was delivered.

Judge Fakhreddine al-Aryan, head of the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus, said the official religious establishment under Assad's rule had “justified the use of barrel bombs that targeted civilian areas and caused widespread destruction, which constitutes a violation of the rules of international humanitarian law.”

Mass anti-government protests broke out in Syria in 2011 and were met with a harsh government crackdown, leading to a civil war that lasted for nearly 14 years. The conflict left about half a million people dead and displaced more than half of Syria's pre-war population of 23 million.

The war ended with Assad's ouster in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led insurgents in December 2024. Hassoun's life sentence is the latest in a series of court rulings against figures associated with the former government, as Syria continues to deal with the legacy of the conflict.

With PTI Inputs

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