A court in the Syrian capital Damascus has issued an arrest warrant in absentia for former President Bashar al-Assad on charges of murder, torture resulting in death, and unlawful deprivation of liberty.
The ruling was issued based on a complaint by the families of the victims of the November 21, 2011 events in Daraa province in southern Syria.
Tawfiq al-Ali, the investigating judge in the Seventh Court of Damascus, announced that this judicial ruling paves the way for issuing an arrest warrant through Interpol and international follow-up of the case.
Al-Ali emphasized: “This action was taken based on the complaint of the families of the victims of the events of November 21, 2011 in Daraa province.”
The ruling is the first formal judicial action inside Syria against Assad since the fall of his government and could be linked to international cases, including rulings issued by French courts in 2023 and 2025.
