Syria Sentences Former Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun to Life in Prison

A Syrian court on Monday sentenced Ahmad Hassoun, the former grand mufti under ex-President Bashar Assad, to life in prison. Hassoun, 77, was found guilty of crimes including justifying murder and inciting sectarian unrest. Judge Fakhreddine al-Aryan stated that the religious establishment under Assad justified the use of barrel bombs against civilian areas, which violated international humanitarian law. Hassoun served as Syria's top Islamic cleric from 2005 until the position was abolished in 2021. He was arrested at Damascus Airport in March of the previous year while attempting to flee the country.

Hassoun is the 10th figure from the Assad era to be sentenced by the new authorities. Earlier this month, Bashar Assad and his brother Maher were sentenced to death in absentia for atrocities committed during the civil war. Additionally, Bashar's cousins, Atif Najib and Wassim al-Assad, received death sentences after being tried in person. The civil war began in 2011 and resulted in over half a million deaths and millions of displaced people before ending in December 2024 with the ouster of Assad by Islamist-led militants. Assad is believed to be in Russia.

While some Syrians welcome the sentences, human rights groups have expressed concern that the trials are rushed and may lack fairness. Balkees Jarrah of Human Rights Watch emphasized the need for a system that delivers impartial and independent justice. Center-left and center sources provided nearly identical accounts of the legal proceedings and the concerns raised by rights groups, while one center-left source highlighted the cleric's role through the descriptive label barrel bomb mufti.