New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- For sixteen years, Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun stood beside Bashar al-Assad at state ceremonies, appeared on government television, and offered the Islamic credentials that Assad's secular autocracy periodically required. On Sunday, a court in the Syrian capital sentenced him to life in prison.

Syria's Grand Mufti from 2005 until the regime's fall in December 2024 - of inciting civil war and sectarian strife, direct participation in killings, and committing crimes against humanity. Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan said the evidence confirmed Hassoun's "involvement in crimes against humanity and war crimes." The court added sentences of three to twenty years on related counts of inciting sectarian hatred and abuse of office, ...