Syria parliament votes to abolish Assad-era terrorism court, nullify rulings

DAMASCUS, Sept 16 – Syria’s parliament voted on Wednesday to abolish an Assad-era terrorism court and nullify the legal effects of its rulings, state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported, in one of the first significant legislative moves by the country’s new assembly.

The Counter-Terrorism Court was established in 2012 as then-President Bashar al-Assad sought to suppress an uprising against his rule, and it was used to prosecute thousands of Syrians for terrorism-related offences.

The move formalises the court’s abolition after Syria’s new authorities had already treated it as defunct. In June 2025, President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree dismissing 67 judges who had served in what he described at the time as the “abolished Counter-Terrorism Court”.

Syria’s March 2025 constitutional declaration had also called for abolishing the effects of what it described as unjust rulings issued by the court, including returning confiscated property.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee said in 2024 that the 2012 law establishing the court failed to adequately provide key judicial guarantees and raised concerns over arbitrary detention, torture or ill-treatment, and the court’s independence. It also noted that the court was permitted to depart from ordinary procedures during prosecution and trial.

The U.N.’s International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism said in a 2024 report that the Counter-Terrorism Court formed part of the judicial system through which detainees held by Assad-era security agencies could be prosecuted. The report documented widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment across the government’s detention system.

Wednesday’s vote came during the opening weeks of the first parliament formed since Assad was toppled in December 2024. The chamber convened for the first time in July.

The vote is among the assembly’s first major legislative decisions after it spent its initial sessions establishing its internal rules and committees. It held a hearing this week with Education Minister Mohammad Abdul Rahman Tarkou over the state of the country’s schools and is due to question the energy minister on Thursday over a sharp rise in fuel prices.

(Reporting by Feras Dalatey in Damascus; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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