government: republic under an authoritarian military-dominated regime
state of civil and political rights: Not free
constitution: 13 March 1973
legal system: based on a combination of French and Ottoman civil law; Islamic law is used in the family court system;
legislative system: Unicameral People's Council (Majlis al-Shaab)
judicial system: Supreme Constitutional Court (justices are appointed for four-year terms by the president); High Judiciary Council; Court of Cassation; State Security Court
religion: 74% Sunni Muslim; 16% Alawite, Druse and other Muslim sects; 10% Christian; Jewish minority
death row:
year of last executions: 0-0-0
death sentences: 0
executions: 0
international treaties on human rights and the death penalty:International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Statute of the International Criminal Court (which excludes the death penalty) (only signed)
situation:
Capital crimes are: treason; murder; political acts such as bearing arms against Syria in the ranks of the enemy, desertion of the armed forces to the enemy and acts of incitement under martial law or in wartime; violent robberies; rape; verbal opposition to the government; and membership in the Muslim brotherhood.
Syria also applies the death penalty for drug trafficking whilst the punishment for possession of drugs is life imprisonment.
The minimum age for the imposition of the death penalty in Syria is 18 years. The maximum age was not defined in Syrian law, but there had never been a case of somebody condemned to death older than 60 years.
Official figures are not available, but according to Amnesty International at least two executions took place in Syria in 2004. No execution was recorded in 2005 while 2 were recorded in 2006 and at least 7 in 2007.
On December 18, 2008 and December 21st, 2010, Syria voted against the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.
