A cousin of toppled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has appeared in court in Damascus on charges including murder, torture and responsibility for massacres, in one of the most significant accountability proceedings since the fall of the Assad government.
Atef Najib, the former head of political security in Syria’s southern Deraa province, appeared before the Fourth Criminal Court on Sunday wearing a striped prison uniform and seated in a defendant’s cage. The hearing was the second session in his trial and the first substantive stage of proceedings, after a preparatory session opened on April 26.
Najib is accused of overseeing a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters in Deraa at the start of Syria’s 2011 uprising. The city became a flashpoint after teenagers who wrote anti-regime graffiti on a school wall were arrested and tortured, a case widely seen as one of the triggers of the nationwide revolt that grew into a 14-year civil war.
Al Jazeera Mubasher reported that 75 plaintiffs have filed cases against Najib and are expected to testify. Relatives of victims, members of the National Transitional Justice Commission and representatives of international legal and humanitarian organisations attended Sunday’s session. After roughly an hour in open court, proceedings moved behind closed doors to protect some witnesses.
Najib’s trial is being closely watched because it is the first national criminal proceeding against a senior figure from Assad’s security apparatus since the former president was ousted. Rights groups say the case is symbolically important, but they have also warned that Syria’s current legal framework does not yet fully incorporate war crimes or crimes against humanity as separate offences, meaning some charges may be prosecuted under ordinary criminal law.
Assad and his brother Maher, the former commander of the Syrian army’s 4th Armoured Division, are being tried in absentia alongside other former senior officials. Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia in December 2024 after opposition forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew his government.
Najib was arrested in January 2025 during a security operation in Latakia province targeting remnants of the former regime. His arrest was considered especially significant because of his role in Deraa at the beginning of the uprising.
The interim government has faced criticism over delays in establishing a broader transitional justice process. Sunday’s hearing, however, signals a more aggressive effort to pursue former officials accused of abuses during a war that killed an estimated half a million people and displaced millions.
