DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A former Islamic religious leader was sentenced to life in prison Monday in the latest Syrian court trial of officials affiliated with the rule of ex-President Bashar Assad.

Former grand mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, an Assad loyalist who was vocally in support of the government’s policies, was convicted of inciting violence and justifying murder. He held the position of mufti from 2005 to 2021, when the position was abolished.

Judge Fakhreddine al-Aryan, head of the Fourth Criminal Court in Damascus, said the official religious establishment under Assad’s rule had “justified the use of barrel bombs that targeted civilian areas and caused widespread destruction, which constitutes a violation of the rules of international humanitarian law.”

Several other senior Assad-era officials — including Assad himself and his brother, Maher — have been sentenced to death in recent weeks, many of them in absentia. Hassoun was in custody and present in the court.

Some human rights groups have expressed concerns that the trials are being rushed and are potentially unfair, but the sentences have been welcomed by many Syrians who had previously expressed frustration that the new government was not moving with enough speed or strength against Assad-era figures.

Mass anti-government protests erupted in Syria in 2011 and were met by a brutal government crackdown, spiraling into a nearly 14-year civil war that left about half a million people dead and displaced more than half of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million.

The war ended with the ouster of Assad in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led insurgents in December 2024.