How a Syrian jurist became the first post-Assad Speaker of the People's Assembly

Countries & Cities · Published 15 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: After fleeing Syria in 2014 to escape state security, Abdul Hamid al-Awak returned to help rebuild the nation's legal framework. In July 2026, he was elected Speaker of the People's Assembly, tasked with navigating a fragile transition toward a state defined by citizenship rather than sectarian quotas.

Born in Ghuwayran in 1966, Abdul Hamid al-Awak built a career as a jurist and academic before the Syrian revolution. He completed his undergraduate legal studies at the University of Aleppo in 1990 and later earned advanced degrees in public, administrative, and constitutional law. Between 1998 and 2014, he served as a consultant judge within the Ministry of Justice. His opposition to the Ba'athist regime eventually forced him into exile in Turkey, where he taught at Mardin Artuklu University and consulted for the Stabilization Support Unit, focusing on institutional development in northern Syria.

Following the collapse of the Assad regime, al-Awak returned to Syria to play a central role in the country's political restructuring. In March 2025, President Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed him to the committee responsible for drafting the Constitutional Declaration, a five-year transitional document. This declaration sought to balance security with civil liberties, establishing a clear separation of powers while limiting the President's authority to the declaration of states of emergency. Al-Awak has argued that this transitional phase is essential for fostering the stability required to eventually draft a permanent constitution through a public referendum.

As the first person to hold this office in the post-Assad era, he has prioritized the reform of the Ministry of Justice and the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms. He explicitly rejects power-sharing models based on sectarian or racial quotas, advocating instead for a system rooted in equal citizenship. His current work involves overseeing the assembly's internal bylaws and managing the legislative branch's cooperation with the executive during this volatile period of national recovery.

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