Damascus sentences famed opponents to death

The Syrian government has reportedly sentenced five leading opponents of the regime, including Youssef Qardawi, Adnan al-Arour and Al-Jazeera journalist Faisal al-Qassem, to death in absentia.

Arour is a firebrand cleric from Hama who is now a popular TV figure in Saudi Arabia; Qassem is an influential Al-Jazeera host from Suweida; and Qaradawi, who is the only Egyptian in the list, is a Muslim Brotherhood figure who hosts the Sharia and Life program on Al-Jazeera TV.

While the verdict against them was not published in any official Syrian news agencies, Syria Steps said that it had “obtained copies of a number of verdicts issued by the Court for Cases of Terrorism that order the execution of people who have incited, and taken part in, the letting of Syrian blood.” 

The report added that the government had also sent a communique to all ministries and their subsidiary bodies ordering “the transfer of any property belonging to the sentenced individuals to state ownership.”