New Delhi, Aug. 11 -- Atef Najib, a former senior Syrian security official and cousin of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, was sentenced to death by a court in Damascus on Tuesday for his role in the crackdown that helped ignite Syria's uprising in 2011.

Najib was sentenced alongside Assad and his younger brother Maher al-Assad in a case that marked the first convictions against the former president and members of his inner circle since the Assad family's more than five-decade rule ended in December 2024.

Unlike Assad and Maher, who were tried in absentia, Najib was present in court. He was detained by Syrian security forces in early 2025 and is among the highest-ranking former Assad-era officials to face trial in Syria.

Najib is a for...