Absentia arrest warrant issued for former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The Syrian Transitional Government’s Ministry of Justice announced on September 25, 2025, the issuance of an absentia arrest warrant for former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, citing charges including premeditated murder, torture, and acts intended to incite civil war.
According to the official text of the warrant, issued by the Seventh Investigative Judge in Damascus, Assad is being pursued under Articles 535, 533, 534, and 298 of the General Penal Code, alongside the provisions of Law No. 16 of 2022 on the Prohibition of Torture.
The warrant provides detailed physical descriptions of Assad, noting a height of approximately 189 cm, a broad forehead, long nose, blue eyes, brown hair, and an oval face. It calls on relevant security bodies to arrest him wherever found and to place him in designated detention facilities, with the armed forces tasked with executing the order.
This warrant is registered under Case File No. 1, related to the events in Daraa in 2011 — widely regarded as the spark of Syria’s decade-long conflict. The step follows the dissolution of the Assad regime in December 2024, after revolutionary forces seized control of Syrian territory, ending the 61-year rule of the Ba’ath Party. Assad subsequently sought refuge in Russia under humanitarian asylum.
Human rights organizations have long documented serious violations linked to Assad’s tenure, including indiscriminate aerial bombardments, the use of chemical weapons, arbitrary arrests, torture leading to death, and mass killings. These have been characterized internationally as systematic crimes rising to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The move in Damascus aligns with judicial developments abroad. In August 2025, French courts issued seven arrest warrants against senior former regime officials, including Assad, for alleged complicity in the shelling of a media center in Homs in 2012 — an attack that killed American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Rémi Ochlik, and injured others. Warrants were also issued for Assad’s brother Maher and senior security figures Ali Mamlouk and Ali Ayyoub. Rights groups have described these proceedings as important steps toward accountability for Syria’s recent history.
The Syrian Justice Ministry has not announced an official timetable for enforcement of the warrant. The case remains open for further legal proceedings.