Syria Sentences Former Assad-Era Grand Mufti Ahmed Hassoun to Life Imprisonment
A Syrian court has sentenced former Grand Mufti Ahmed Hassoun to life imprisonment after finding the prominent Assad-era cleric guilty of charges including inciting sectarian conflict, encouraging violence and abusing his position.
The ruling, handed down on Monday, makes Hassoun the 10th senior figure associated with the former government to receive a sentence since Syria’s new authorities began prosecuting officials linked to the Bashar al-Assad era.
Hassoun, 77, served as Syria’s highest-ranking Muslim cleric for 16 years and was widely regarded as a close ally of Assad. He frequently appeared alongside the former president at religious and state occasions during his tenure.
Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan found Hassoun guilty of several offences, including incitement to civil war and sectarian conflict.
The court imposed a life sentence for the principal charge, alongside additional prison terms of between three and 20 years for other offences, including incitement to intentional killing, complicity in intentional killing and promoting sectarian and racial hatred.
The court also ordered the confiscation of Hassoun’s assets, with the proceeds to be transferred to the state treasury.
The conviction marks the first sentencing of a religious figure since Syria’s new authorities began formal judicial proceedings against officials and prominent figures associated with Assad’s former government.
Hassoun was arrested at Damascus airport in March 2025 while allegedly attempting to leave the country. He had previously served as grand mufti for more than a decade before the position was abolished by the Syrian government in 2021.
The cleric, who was born in Aleppo and came from a prominent religious family, had maintained a close public relationship with Assad throughout the former president’s rule.
The case comes amid a wider judicial campaign targeting senior figures from the Assad government following its collapse in December 2024. Assad fled Syria as his government fell and is believed to have taken refuge in Russia.
In a separate development, Syrian authorities have handed down death sentences against Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad and five former security officials in absentia over alleged atrocities committed during the country’s civil war. Assad-era figures Atif Najib and Wassim al-Assad, relatives of the former president who were tried in person, have also received death sentences.
The sweeping prosecutions have attracted international scrutiny, particularly over the use of capital punishment and concerns about whether the proceedings meet international standards for fair and independent justice.
Human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, have urged the Syrian authorities to ensure that accountability for crimes committed during the conflict is pursued through credible, impartial and independent judicial processes.
The legal campaign follows more than a decade of conflict that began in 2011 after security forces violently suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations against Assad’s government. The ensuing war killed more than half a million people, displaced millions and left tens of thousands missing.
Hassoun’s life sentence therefore represents another significant step in Syria’s effort to hold prominent figures from the former regime accountable, while also intensifying debate over the country’s transition, judicial independence and the treatment of those accused of serious wartime crimes.
