DAMASCUS — Syria’s parliament voted on Wednesday to abolish the country’s Assad-era Counter-Terrorism Court and nullify the legal effects of its rulings, state television reported to Reuters. The decision is one of the first major legislative moves by the new assembly formed after Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

The court was established in 2012 as Assad’s government sought to suppress the uprising against his rule. Reuters reported that it was used to prosecute thousands of Syrians for terrorism-related offences, while Syria’s newer authorities had already treated the institution as defunct.

The vote gives legal form to earlier transitional measures. In June 2025, President Ahmed al-Sharaa dismissed 67 judges who had served on what he called the abolished court. A March 2025 constitutional declaration had also called for the effects of unjust rulings to be cancelled, including the return of confiscated property.

The court’s record has been criticised by international human-rights bodies. Reuters cited a 2024 UN Human Rights Committee assessment that the law establishing the court failed to provide key judicial guarantees and raised concerns about arbitrary detention, torture or ill-treatment and judicial independence.

The practical consequences now matter as much as the vote. The parliament’s decision does not, by itself, explain how cases will be reviewed, how convictions will be removed from records, how property will be returned or how victims will receive redress. Those questions will determine whether abolition becomes a foundation for accountability or remains a symbolic break with the past.

*Reporting note: this article is based on the source record listed above and is current as of 16 September 2026. Figures, operational claims and casualty counts may change as authorities update their accounts.*