A Syrian court sentenced former grand mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun to life in prison after convicting him of offences that included inciting violence and justifying killings during the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad. Hassoun, who was in custody, attended the hearing at the Palace of Justice in Damascus.
The Fourth Criminal Court found that Hassoun had abused his religious office in support of military and security operations, according to Al Jazeera. Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said the official religious establishment under Assad had given religious cover to violence and had justified barrel-bomb attacks on civilian areas that caused widespread destruction. The judge described that conduct as a breach of international humanitarian law.
Al Jazeera reported that the court imposed several terms for different charges, including 20 years for inciting killings and 10 years for prolonging them, with the combined judgment resulting in life imprisonment. The court also ordered Hassoun to compensate victims, confiscated his money and property for the public treasury and barred him from benefiting from a general or special amnesty.
The ruling referred to Hassoun's public lectures and media statements. The court found that he encouraged Syrian officers and soldiers to confront the opposition, called on civilians in eastern Aleppo to leave their homes and urged the military to destroy areas from which shells were launched. These were findings of the Syrian court as reported by Al Jazeera; the supplied evidence did not include transcripts or recordings for independent examination.
Hassoun served as Syria's top Islamic cleric from 2005 until the office was abolished in 2021. AP and DW described him as a vocal supporter of Assad's policies. Al Jazeera said he was arrested at Damascus airport in March 2025 after emerging from hiding a month earlier, and that his trial began on June 25, 2026. DW reported that he was 77 and had long been closely associated with Assad at public religious events.
The case formed part of a series of proceedings against figures linked to the former government. AP reported that Hassoun was present for his trial, unlike several senior defendants sentenced in absentia. Assad and his brother Maher had recently received death sentences in absentia, while Assad relatives Atif Najib and Wassim al-Assad were tried in person and also sentenced to death, according to the supplied reports.
Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani welcomed Hassoun's verdict and described defending Syrians' rights as a continuing duty. Al Jazeera reported that some of Hassoun's supporters, largely mobilising online, argued that his statements had been removed from their context. Some critics, by contrast, had sought a death sentence.
The wider court process has drawn sharply different reactions. AP and DW reported that many Syrians welcomed action against Assad-era officials after criticising the new authorities for moving too slowly. Human rights organisations have raised concerns that trials are being rushed and may not meet standards of fairness.
Balkees Jarrah, Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa director, said accountability for grave crimes required not only convictions but an impartial, independent and competent justice system. Her statement, carried by DW, addressed the quality of the emerging process rather than the factual findings in Hassoun's individual case.
Syria's conflict began after the government violently suppressed anti-government protests in 2011. The war lasted nearly 14 years, killed about half a million people and displaced more than half of the country's prewar population of 23 million, according to AP. Assad was removed in December 2024 after a rapid offensive by Islamist-led insurgents and fled the country; DW reported that he was believed to be in Russia.
Hassoun's sentence was significant because he was a religious official rather than a member of the Assad family or security leadership. Al Jazeera described him as the first Sunni cleric tried in these transitional cases. The verdict established the court's judgment against him, while concerns about the speed and fairness of the broader proceedings remained unresolved.
