ALEPPO, Sept 17 — Syria’s judiciary issued its first verdicts on Thursday over last year’s killing of hundreds of members of the Alawite minority on the Syrian coast.

The court sentenced a former member of government forces to 20 years in prison for murder, while two supporters of the deposed government received a death sentence and life in prison.

Fourteen people were accused of involvement in the massacres, in a trial that opened last November. They were seven government forces members and seven supporters of former President Bashar al-Assad.

Further verdicts are expected next week.

Several of the defendants believed to be Assad supporters pleaded not guilty at the opening of the trial, with one claiming he was in Lebanon during the violence.

The death sentence issued was for “assault aimed at provoking civil war and sectarian clashes”.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, expressed criticism that “one of the largest mass massacres Syria has seen during the transition period is being reduced to just a few cases”.

“Putting a few people on trial does not constitute real justice,” he told AFP.

The massacres last year, which authorities say broke out after attacks by Assad supporters against their forces, left at least 1,426 people dead, according to a national commission of inquiry.

The Observatory said more than 1,700 people were killed.

The commission said it had verified serious violations leading to the deaths of mostly civilians, and identified 298 suspects.

It claimed 238 members of the security forces and army had been killed in attacks attributed to Assad’s supporters.

Islamist authorities then sent reinforcements to the region, with the commission estimating their number at 200,000 fighters.

Syrian and international monitoring groups reported sectarian massacres, in which entire families were killed by government forces, armed groups allied with the government and armed volunteers, including summary executions.

Assad, an Alawite, was toppled by an Islamist-led offensive in December 2024.

Despite assurances from the new authorities, Syria’s religious minorities have since expressed safety concerns. — AFP