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

Atif Najib, the former Syrian security chief in Daraa, has been sentenced to death for his role in the crackdown on protesters in 2011. A criminal court in Damascus also handed down death sentences in absentia to eight other former regime figures, including Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher. The defendants were convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, arbitrary detention and torture, including of children. The ruling is being seen as a landmark step towards transitional just