First hearing begins in trial of former Syrian Grand Mufti Ahmed Hassoun

The initial session of the public trial of the former Grand Mufti of the Baathist regime, Ahmed Badr al-Din Hassoun, took place at the Criminal Court in the Justice Palace in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to the Syrian Ministry of Justice website.

Hassoun, born in the city of Aleppo in 1949, is one of the religious figures who held the position of Grand Mufti of the Republic between 2005 and 2021, before the Baathist regime’s president Bashar al-Assad issued a decree abolishing the post as part of changes to the country’s official religious structure.

Hassoun was also known by the nickname “the Mufti of barrel bombs” due to his public support for the bombing of opposition neighbourhoods in Aleppo with barrel explosives.

The trial comes one day after the start of proceedings against Wassim al-Assad, cousin of regime leader Bashar al-Assad, at the same court in the Justice Palace in Damascus.

Meanwhile, public calls are growing for the prosecution of all those responsible for massacres in Syria before and after the fall of the Baathist regime, including the massacres in the coastal region and Sweida.

A-H

ANHA