Syria has formed a committee to seek the extradition of criminals sentenced to death in absentia, Deputy Justice Minister Mustafa al-Qassem said on Wednesday, as the government defended the rulings against criticism from Amnesty International. Al-Qassem said the committee would coordinate with Interpol to secure the handover of those convicted to Syria. A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad and several senior figures from his rule to death, including former security official Atef Najib, in the first rulings of their kind since the former government was overthrown in late 2024. Cheers and chants erupted inside the courtroom, through the corridors of the Palace of Justice and outside the building as the verdicts were announced. “We have established offices to receive complaints related to transitional justice crimes, and we are seeking to recover Syrians’ stolen funds and pursue those who invested them abroad,” al-Qassem told Syria’s Al-Ikhbariya television. He said international cooperation, particularly in the handover of fugitives, would help accelerate Syria’s transitional justice process. Al-Qassem said the Justice Ministry was also seeking the closest possible alignment between Syrian judicial procedures and international trial standards, while stressing Syria’s national sovereignty in matters of transitional justice. The Justice Ministry, meanwhile, pushed back against Amnesty International’s criticism of Tuesday’s rulings, saying the group’s statement “does not accurately reflect the nature of the judicial procedures followed in these cases or the safeguards guaranteed to litigants under Syrian law.” Amnesty said the government, if it wanted to “truly turn the page on the horrors of the past,” should end trials in absentia and the death penalty, criminalize core crimes under international law in domestic legislation and undertake comprehensive judicial reform. It said prosecutions should take place before ordinary civilian courts, with victims participating and without resorting to capital punishment, as part of a nationwide, victim-centered strategy aimed at establishing truth, delivering justice and providing reparations. The ministry said the cases were heard before a competent civilian criminal court by qualified judges, with victims and their representatives taking part in accordance with legal procedures. It said constitutional and legal safeguards were observed, along with relevant principles of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The trials, it added, were based on facts, evidence and judicial case files, with defendants guaranteed rights of defense, appeal and objection under applicable procedures. The ministry said Syria’s current circumstances, after years of crimes and violations, placed a legal and moral duty on the state to deliver justice and hold those responsible to account. That responsibility, it said, did not justify bypassing constitutional or legal safeguards or diminishing the rights of any party to a case. Justice was being pursued through state institutions and within their jurisdiction, the ministry said, “in a manner that preserves victims’ right to redress and defendants’ right to a trial under the law, away from revenge or politicization.” On capital punishment, the ministry said the death penalty remained part of Syrian law and could only be imposed by a court ruling based on law, evidence and facts. Any execution, it said, would be subject to prescribed legal safeguards and could take place only after all stages and procedures required by law and the competent authorities had been completed. The ministry also defended trials in absentia, saying that when permitted by law and conducted under the required conditions, they did not, in themselves, undermine fair-trial guarantees or the legality of the proceedings. It reiterated its willingness to engage with international rights groups and consider observations that could help improve Syria’s justice system. But it said evaluating judicial procedures, ruling on cases and determining responsibility and punishment remained the jurisdiction of the Syrian judiciary, operating under the constitution and the law while safeguarding the rights of all parties and victims’ right to justice. Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais told Al-Ikhbariya on Tuesday that the ruling against Atef Najib had been issued in the name of the entire Syrian people. He said the verdict showed that no one was above the law, regardless of status or position, and that rights would ultimately be restored to those entitled to them, however long it took.
