Former Syrian President al-Assad sentenced to death in absentia

Open this photo in gallery:A Syrian court sentenced President Bashar Assad in absentia.Remy De La Mauviniere/The Associated PressA Syrian court sentenced in absentia ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad along with his younger brother to death on Tuesday for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syria’s 14-year conflict that left about half a million people dead.Also sentenced to death in the same case was al-Assad’s maternal cousin Atef Najib for leading the crackdown in the southern province of Daraa that led to the uprising and later the civil war.Amid tight security, Najib stood inside a cage wearing a prisoner’s uniform as the judge read the sentence.A year after al-Assad’s fall, celebration turns to fear and divisional-Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia after insurgents marched into Damascus in December 2014.Najib was later detained and became one of the highest-ranking officials to be put on trial.Najib is a former Syrian army brigadier-general who was head of the Political Security Branch in southern Syria’s Daraa province under al-Assad in 2011.