Damascus Court Reviews Testimony in Trial of Former Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun

Damascus Criminal Court Heard Prosecution Witness Testimony in the Second Session of Former Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun’s Trial, Charged with Inciting Violence and Justifying Killings Under the Deposed Assad Regime.

The Fourth Criminal Court session on Thursday included representatives from Syrian and international human‑rights groups, was chaired by Judge Fakhr al‑Din al‑Aryan, and featured advisors Abdul Hamid Mohammad al‑Hammoud and Hossam Hussein Abdul Rahman. Public Prosecutor Judge Omar Mahmoud al‑Radi presented the state’s case.

The court’s inaugural session took place on June 25, during which prosecutors formally filed the charges against Hassoun.

The indictment alleges that Hassoun exploited his role as grand mufti for personal gain and cultivated covert relationships with former President Bashar al‑Assad, ex‑intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, senior military officers, and leaders of sectarian militias.

Prosecutors further accuse him of addressing former regime officers and troops, urging them to back military operations against opposition factions.

The indictment claims he publicly incited violence against civilians in opposition‑controlled regions and refugees displaced by the regime’s repression, especially in eastern Aleppo and Idlib, and called on regime forces to raze those areas.

Hassoun is also alleged to have publicly endorsed military commanders and other figures facing war‑crime accusations, such as Issam Zahreddine and Qassem Soleimani, and to have supported Russian and Iranian military interventions in Syria, even amid claims of extensive violations by their forces and allied militias.

Zahreddine, a senior officer in the Syrian Republican Guard, and Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force who led Iranian operations in Arab states, were both killed in separate incidents; Soleimani died in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.

Under Syrian law, Hassoun faces charges of incitement to intentional killing, complicity in homicide, participation in acts intended to provoke civil war and sectarian conflict, incitement of sectarian and racial hatred, and abuse of influence for personal benefit.

These proceedings are part of Syria’s transitional‑justice initiative, which aims to establish truth, provide justice for victims, and hold alleged perpetrators accountable through judicial processes.

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